Zero
by 999patientia
Summary: Let's tie it all together... - Pre Ring III
1. First Sin: Gluttony

Disclaimer- I don't own anything...except for the OC.

* * *

_Zero_

* * *

_Hungry..._

"Disgusting creature..."

_Eat, eat, eat..._

"Vooooooiiii!! Xanxus! Is this it?"

_Someone here... Ignore...hungry hungry..._

"...bring her with us."

_Hungry, hungry, hungry... Always hungry...hungry..._

"Huh? This thing's a girl? How can you tell?"

_Food, food, food... No more food. No more, no more, no more, no more..._

"Shit..." Squalo looked at the mess in front of him. With a sneer, he picked her up and put her over his shoulder. He blinked. What the fuck... Were little girls usually this heavy? The girl gave no struggle which he was thankful for but-- was she chewing on his hair?!

_Food, food, hungry, hungry, munch, munch, munch,munch, munch........toothpaste?_

* * *

**First Sin- Gluttony**

* * *

The girl didn't bother to look around her surroundings. She lazily looked at the ground and stood up.

She blinked. She wasn't able to do that before... She was pretty high up... She started getting dizzy. With a flop, she fell back down.

"...what the hell are you doing?"

The girl rolled her head to the direction of the voice. It was the toothpaste tasting guy. His hair even looked like toothpaste... She felt hungry again. She started to chew around her tongue and stood up, once more.

"...Oi! Xanxus! What the hell is she here for?"

She blinked and stared at the toothpaste guy. She only noticed his hair. It wasn't as long as she thought. His hair was shoulder length and completely white. The girl looked at her own hair. Grabbing a piece of it, she put it in her mouth and started to chew. After five seconds, she spat it back out.

It had a metal-ish taste to it.

Her hands felt sticky. She held her hands up to see a reddish-brown liquid covering her pale hands. It was already drying...

_Hungry..._

She stuck a covered finger to her mouth.

It tasted the same as her hair.

She felt something pulling her up. She didn't squirm or struggle and let the force take her. She was met with a cold stare.

It was the other person. She wasn't able to eat or chew on anything of his... She only remembered him because toothpaste guy kept calling his name out.

_Xanxus..._

She still sucked on her finger. She was hungry but she couldn't look away from his eyes.

With her free hand, she patted his face. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed toothpaste guy freeze up. Ignoring him completely, she kept her eyes on the person before her.

He was grabbing her by the back of her shirt and she could feel herself losing air but she kept her gaze. There wasn't anything special about him but his eyes were similar... They looked like hers...

Lonely? Anger? Indifference? She couldn't tell.

"Zero."

She blinked. He talks!

Toothpaste looked confused.

"Her name's Zero."

The girl blinked. Zero...was her name? What's a name? Can you eat it? What's a 'her?' Too confusing... She just wanted food...

"Xanxus..." There it was again! That weird word... Toothpaste continued, "What is she?"

The man with the eyes kept his stare on her but he dropped her to the ground.

"An experiment."

The girl recognized that word. Experiment... She didn't like that word... She was always in pain, always hungry, after someone said that word...

The eyes person continued. "The Estraneos were the first to experiment on children to create weapons. Heh... The Vongola aren't that different..."

The girl blinked.

Toothpaste walked over to her and crouched down low enough to meet her eyes.

"Zero, huh? You sure her name shouldn't be 'Patches?'" He grabbed a piece of the girl's hair. Some parts were bleached white while others were blackened like soot. Patches of white and black covered her head... Her face had a bruise on one side while the other side showed her pale white skin.

_Hungry..._

She took her finger out of her mouth and grabbed onto Toothpaste's hair. She pulled him down and chomped on his hair...

"VOOOOOI!! WHAT THE HELL?! GET OFF! LET GO!!"

_Hungry..._

"Kill her and die, trash."

The one with the eyes walked out of the room, leaving Toothpaste and the girl alone.

"...he never answered my question as to why you're here--OW! LET GOOOO!"

* * *

_Esperimento _

* * *

She was hungry. Always hungry. She never knew why but she was hungry.

She was able to stand now and walk around. She learned that the things she walked with were called legs. Sometimes, she would sit and stare at them.

They were weird. They didn't match her skin tone. The legs were darker than her arms. Was that normal? There was a clear line dividing the difference in color. There was thread holding her legs to her body.

She pulled at the thread, thinking it was food.

It wasn't.

It just hurt a lot.

She was cleaned up and her hair was brushed down, or at least, as much as it could be brushed down.

She walked by a person and stopped. The other person stopped too.

She walked towards it and the other did the same. The girl reached a hand out and the other mirrored her.

She blinked. There was something blocking her way. The other girl kept copying her.

She looked at the other girl closely. She had patches of white in her black unruly hair and was wearing a black dress. The girl looked down and realized that she was wearing the same clothes. She looked back up and noticed that the background had the same objects as her background.

She was annoyed.

She couldn't eat it. Or do anything with it.

It showed her what she looked like.

She didn't like it.

She held up her hand and made it into a fist. Holding her fist up to her shoulder, she swung forward.

* * *

_Ricomporre_

* * *

SMASH!

The sounds of shattering were heard throughout the house.

"Voooooooooiii!! What the hell? Who's doing that?!"

Squalo quickly ran up the stairs and followed the sounds of breaking glass.

When he entered the room, he saw mirrors, glass, cups, vases, windows, and pretty much anything that gave off a reflection, broken and shattered all over the ground. In the middle, sat the girl that he and Xanxus picked up. Her hands were covered in cuts and scratches but she wasn't crying.

A flash of an image from back when he grabbed her appeared in his mind.

It was the same.

She was in the middle of the room and her hands were covered in blood, just like now. Glass was everywhere and no one else was in sight...

Squalo snapped out of his flashback to see the present girl.

She was licking the blood off as if it was the only thing she would ever eat.

Disgusted, Squalo walked over the glass and picked the girl up. He wasn't imagining it...she really was heavy... Ignoring that thought, he asked, "What the fuck were you doing?"

The girl ignored him and continued her 'eating.'

Squalo, who had too much pride to be ignored, had one eye twitching. He really wanted to kill the brat but Xanxus said she was going to be useful.

Which got him thinking...HOW?!

How could this munchkin (by munchkin, he literally meant MUNCHkin) do anything for them? They were the Varia, damn it! Not a fucking babysitter club!

...and the girl started chewing on his hair again!!

"Are you fucking hungry or something? Didn't you get food like half an hour ago?! How much can you eat?!"

As usual she made no reply.

"Are you a mute or something?"

No reply.

He started grumbling as he headed down the stairs.

"Fucking brat...cause me anymore trouble and I'm putting you in a straitjacket."

* * *

_Incompleto _

* * *

He wasn't kidding about the straitjacket.

The only good thing that came out of the entire mess from a few minutes ago was that, she fell asleep.

...while chewing his hair...

He pulled his hair back from her grubby hands and mouth. At least she stopped eating...

When he came down to the kitchen with her, he was seriously shocked.

She kept eating everything in sight! She would have ate the damned candles if it wasn't for the fact that Squalo got to them first. He started to feel less and less of an assassin and more and more of a nanny...

How old was the brat anyway?

He looked at her closer.

She might be the same age as Bel...but Bel wasn't a baby like her...was he? Hell, if he knew... Bel was the prince of all brats...

He had to wonder... That stupid boss let Zero (he still preferred to call her 'Patches') do whatever the hell she wanted to and he just let her!

It's been a week and still, he hasn't found out the reason for her presense being here. What was special about her?

She had her odd hair, her creepy stare, her creepier eyes, her weight, her...legs...

There really was something odd about her.

The first time he saw her trying to walk... If she was Bel's age, she would be eight, right? Is it normal to start walking when you're eight years old?

...is it normal to have the color of your legs to be different from the rest of your body?

Speaking of normal... He took Zero off his head and placed her on his stomach. He took his hand and opened one of her eyes.

He took his hand away from her immediately.

...did he just see what he thought he saw?

...maybe he should just check one more time...

He wasn't going crazy! Her eyes really were--

"Ushishishi... What are you doing Squalo?"

Squalo sat up on the couch and was face to face with the first brat...

"Bel... Where the hell were you for the past week?"

The little prince shrugged his shoulders. "The Prince doesn't have to answer to you." He pointed to the sleeping girl. "Who's she? I never figured you for a pedophile but that does explain a lot..."

Squalo growled. "I'll fucking kill you brat."

Zero started to blink her eyes.

"Shit! Now look what you did! Do you know how fucking long it took for her to sleep?!"

Zero blinked and looked into Toothpaste's eyes. She decided he was too close but when she tried to move away, she couldn't. She blinked once more and looked around her. She was stuck.

Was this what he called a straitjacket?

She watched as Toothpaste and...

She tilted her head in confusion. Who was this? The newcomer was boy with blonde hair that covered his eyes and had a wide smile on his face. The shiny thing on his head caught her eyes. He had a...piece of metal on his head.

So, yes. Toothpaste and Metal head were talking and she was becoming really bored.

She squirmed a bit and found that the back was weaker than the front.

She got it off.

She wasn't sure how she did it exactly, but she got it off. Once she did, she left the jacket thing on Toothpaste and wandered off.

* * *

_Project Z.E.R. - Incompleto. _

* * *

The girl wandered around looking for food. Well, she was tired too but having a snack wouldn't do any harm...

She didn't end up at the kitchen.

She ended up in a dark room.

There was a silhouette of a person.

Normally if there was nothing that resembled food, she would have left but the figure looked familiar.

She went over the faces of the people she could name...

Toothpaste, Metal head, and Eyes...

She left Toothpaste and Metal head so this must be Eyes!

She walked forward and the figure turned around.

She was right. It was Eyes.

If anyone else entered his room, Xanxus would have definitely killed him but instead, it was Zero.

"What do you want?" He asked. He wasn't able to see her for awhile. Squalo was supposed to take care of her while he planned out the other things... He was going to have to be beaten later.

Zero stared at Xanxus. She tilted her head from one side to another.

She didn't try to eat Eyes yet... Should she try? She had a feeling she shouldn't.

...she was getting tired. She walked up to him and grabbed Eyes' sleeve. She closed her eyes and stood there.

Xanxus blinked. He shook his hand to get her off. She held on tight.

It took him awhile but he realized that she was asleep.

He felt the feeling of annoyance creeping up on him but he quickly brushed it aside and lifted Zero up.

He dropped her off his bed and was about to go get a drink but her hold on him was still strong.

It was getting late. He might as well sleep.

He pushed Zero over and crawled into his bed. He turned to see that Zero still held on as if he was her lifeline. He smirked.

In a way, he was. It didn't matter now. She was his. Not the Vongola's. Not the old man's. His.

"You only live for me."

* * *

_Zero_

_Esperimento_

_Ricomporre_

_incompletO._

_Finished? _


	2. Second Sin: Envy

A/N- Zero Esperimento Ricomporre Incompleto means Zero Experiment Reset Incomplete in Italian. ...or something along those lines...

Truth be told, I'm not a fan of OC stories because they tend to be mary-sues (regardless of objections from authors) but there are good ones out there (I favorited some of them!) so if I start to do that, please flame me and tell me the reason(s) why. Thank you.

Disclaimer- I only own Zero.

* * *

Levi felt rejected, depressed, anger, pain and most of all envy.

All at once.

Bel let out a small laugh here and there as he listened to Squalo's growl in annoyance as he tried to explain the recent happenings to Lussuria and Mammon who just arrived from a mission.

Levi being Levi arrived earlier than them by a few hours.

Turns out a lot can happen in a few hours.

Zero was bored and was about to wander off somewhere but was held tight by Squalo. Like hell she was going to go anywhere! She was the reason for so much of his troubles!

When Levi arrived early morning, he went straight to Xanxus' room to tell him of the outcome of his mission. He knew that no one should enter his room but he was sure Xanxus would forgive him if he told him of the news he brought.

When he opened the door to see his boss, imagine his surprise when all he saw was a small girl sleeping in the bed.

Levi had to walk out to check if he entered the right room (or even the right hideout…did they have a girl servant before?).

Just as he walked out, he saw Xanxus walking towards him in the hallways.

Xanxus being Xanxus saw Levi coming out of his room, got mad and threw whatever he had at hand (which was a wine bottle) at Levi, who had quickly dodged.

The shattering of glass apparantly woke the sleeping girl because once Xanxus pushed Levi out of the way, she was gone.

The window was open.

With a roar, he punched the nearest thing to him--Levi--and sent him flying. He yelled out for Squalo to find her and left for the kitchen to grab another wine bottle.

Squalo quickly ran out of his own room, grumbling about bossy stupid bosses and how it was too early when he tripped over Levi, who was knocked unconcious, with a dent in the wall above his head.

Squalo dragged him down the stairs to the living room to kill him there so his blood wouldn't stain the carpet on the second floor. Xanxus' order was still in his mind when he saw Bel playing with said objective of his mini mission.

Zero had cuts on different parts of her mouth. There was an odd familiar looking knife in her hands.

With a loud 'VOIII!' he dropped his load, who had woken up only to be knocked out once more when Squalo dropped him on the stairs to go over to Zero.

Squalo picked the little girl up and asked Bel what happened even though he already had a pretty good idea of what happened between the two. Bel gave him his wide grin and innocently said he only wanted to show her his knives.

Zero being Zero, tried to eat one.

Then, Lussuria comes in out of no where along with Mammon, who happened to be in the living room when Squalo entered it. Mammon was just staring at Zero, not saying a word, which creeped Squalo out and caused Bel to make a smart aleck comment.

Lussuria said he found Levi sprawled on the stairs and kicked him awake. Levi followed him to the living room to hear Squalo speak.

Lussuria being Lussuria, wanted to go shopping with the girl. Squalo, remembering that the girl was actually a girl handed her over to Lussuria once Squalo finished the explanation but Zero was able to wiggle out of his grip and run straight out of the room.

Bel being Bel, laughed and let the small girl pass him; he wanted to see Squalo's reaction.

Mammon being Mammon, said he would catch her for Squalo if he paid him.

And finally, Squalo being Squalo, let out a frustrated scream.

* * *

**Second Sin- Envy**

* * *

"Alright, Patches. Look. No matter how many times you think you can run away and do whatever the hell you want. You just fucking can't. Why? 'Cause I'll fucking keep on dragging you back here, understand?!"

Zero blinked. Was Patches her new name?

Squalo growled and took his head in his hands. He was doing that a lot more nowadays... He closed his eyes and tried to think of good thoughts when he opened his eyes wide in realization that he made a stupid mistake.

He looked back down to see where Zero was...**_was._**

She disappeared again.

One of Levi's officers walked by Squalo and tripped over his sword-arm. The poor passer-by looked up to see a murderous gleam in the white-haired swordsman.

Screams of bloody murder was heard throughout the mansion.

* * *

Levi had a plan.

The plan was called Operation Get Rid Of The Girl Named Zero Who Is More Favored By The Boss Xanxus Than Himself, also known as O.G.R.O.T.G.N.Z.W.I.M.F.B.T.B.X.T.H.

Only problem was finding her. Squalo did mention that she tended to vanish whenever she wanted. Usually to the kitchen.

So, that's where Levi went. To the kitchen. Only to find it full.

Levi blinked in confusion. He's heard that the girl eats everything in sight and if she did enter the kitchen, surely it would be empty, would it not? But it wasn't.

Maybe she was lost... How long has she been here? Levi's been gone only for a week...

"You're in the Prince's way."

Levi quickly turned to see a head of blonde hair.

"Hurry up and move or I'll cut you."

Levi always thought it was strange for an eight year old to threaten others or be surrounded by other people double his age. Then, he remembered Zero. He asked Bel about her which he replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

Levi left the kitchen with Bel and wandered off. Where could she be? Squalo was always good at tracking her but he left for a mission a few hours ago. He seemed desperate to leave...wonder why. Back to Zero...He should ask Mammon!

Turns out that finding the Arcobaleno was just as hard as finding Zero. Maybe he should give up...

"Levi, what are you doing in my room?"

Speak of the devil and he shall appear!

"I'm looking for...Zero." He said her name with disgust.

Mammon smirked. Just as he thought...

"If you pay me, I'll find her."

Levi expected this and thought it over. Was it really worth it? Giving up pretty much his life savings over a little girl who's probably a nothing towards his boss--

He remembered her in Xanxus' bed. He remembered Xanxus' anger when he found her gone from his bed. He remembered the punch he received from Xanxus because she was gone from his bed... He was set.

"How much?"

Mammon's smirk never left his face. Levi was on the verge of poverty after their exchange.

"Now, where is she?"

Mammon pointed a finger behind him.

There she was. On the bed of Mammon. Sleeping peacefully as if nothing else mattered.

Levi swore she wasn't there before. His eyes widened as he realized what just happened. Mammon's an illusionist so he could have just hid Zero when Levi looked in...

He turned back around to find the greedy baby gone.

The bastard completely tricked him!!

* * *

Zero snapped open her eyes.

She blinked a couple of times and rubbed her eyes. With a yawn, she sat up.

She was face to face with the spikey haired man from the living room. She wasn't able to see his face too much because Toothpaste covered her face when he was holding her.

Spikey froze as he stared at her. Zero tilted her head in confusion. Was he going to lead her to food?

She tried to find the kitchen when she escaped Squalo's grasp from before but that was hours ago. She couldn't find the kitchen and stumbled upon the current bedroom. If she couldn't eat, she would sleep. She had good dreams of cotton candy, lollipops, Xanxus, steak, sponges, soap, Xanxus, pots, tomatoes, forks, knives, Xanxus, white hair--

Her thoughts stopped short as she was picked up and shoved into a bag.

It smelled like potatoes.

She blinked as her eyes turned red and shone light at her surroundings. She saw that she was trapped. The bag was a potato bag.

She flipped backwards as her mode of transportation started to move. It was a bumpy ride. She might have had fun if it wasn't for the fact that she was really hungry...

...well, the bag _did _smell like potatoes..

She grabbed onto the side of the bag and started to chew...

* * *

"Levi, what do you have there?"

Argh! It was Bel again.

"W-w-w-what do you want?"

Bel looked at him with a face of puzzlement. "Well, I want to know what's in the bag. Therefore, tell me what's in the bag."

Levi felt beads of sweat drop down his face.

"D-d-d-d-don't you have something to do?" Anything? Anywhere? Outside? Away from here? Levi was feeling pretty nervous...

"I was looking for Zero but she disappeared somewhere..." Bel's head turned back towards the sight of the bag. "Why is it moving?"

Levi noticed the fumbling and panicked. Maybe he should run for it... As soon as he thought that, he acted--

--and tripped when Bel put his foot out.

Levi let the bag go flying out of his hands and towards a wall. Around the corner, Lussuria convienently appeared and stopped when he saw a brown package fly towards him. On instinct, Lussuria kicked it away from him and back to Levi. Bel quickly grabbed it before Levi could get to it.

Bel opened the bag and stared.

"Hmmm? What's going on?" Lussuria walked over to Bel and looked over his shoulder to peer inside the bag.

The two stared.

"...is that what I think it is?" asked Lussuria.

Levi pushed himself off the ground and snatched the bag back. Bel said nothing and neither did Lussuria. Levi blinked. Were they okay? He wasn't sure how the two would react to having Zero in a bag but... Wait a minute...He just realized now, but the bag seemed lighter than before...

He opened it and reached inside. He grabbed onto a slender thing. ...what the heck was it?

He took the object out and his eyes nearly popped out. Bel and Lussuria looked at it with their mouths open in slight shock.

...was that...a leg?

Looking at it again, the leg was the size of Zero's and if the leg was here, where was the owner?

There was a hole in the bag with a small drop of blood on the ground a few metres away...

* * *

Zero stared at the stump she now had.

Where was her leg? She didn't notice it was gone until she reached the bottom step of the stairs. Nevermind the fact about how she was able to get down the stairs without noticing it missing.

It hurt a lot.

She bit her lips in panic. She wondered if she dropped it somewhere. Can people lose legs? She guessed so, since she herself lost one...

She remembered that she escaped Spikey's bag because she was able to chew a hole through it and when she jumped out of the bag, she did hear a small hissing sound but she ignored it in favor of looking for food.

Her other leg was acting up.

She looked over at her left leg and noticed that the threads changed colours. She looked closer...

They weren't threads! They were...tubes? It was pumping some sort of liquid into her...

...she...was starting to feel sleepy...

At least the stump where her leg was didn't hurt anymore...

...she was still hungry.

* * *

...someone was going to die.

It didn't matter who, when, or how but someone was going to die.

The long-haired piece of trash took every available mission so everyone else was lazing about but it wasn't this that pissed off Xanxus.

He found Zero at the bottom of the stairs. He would've stepped on her if it wasn't for the fact that he was glaring at the ground the entire time.

One of her legs was missing.

She was his! Only his! Who would dare break her?! No one was allowed to that except for him!

It was one of those useless bastards...

He needed to vent his anger on someone...punching out Levi did nothing for him.

"...Xanxus."

He turned around to see glowing red eyes. He flipped the lights on and Zero's eyes returned to their normal grey. She blinked. She was sitting up in his bed.

"Xanxus."

She repeated his name a few more.

"Xanxus, Xanxus, Xanxus, Xanxus..."

She smiled. That was her first word. She was practicing hard! In her mind anyway... She watched as Xanxus walked towards her. He placed a hand over her head and ruffled her hair. She let out a small giggle. She still felt a bit woozy. She looked down at her legs...leg. The running liquid in the tubes slowed down slightly.

Xanxus saw the direction of her eyes and narrowed his own.

"Who did this?"

Zero looked back up at him. She tilted her head from left to right like a pendulum.

"Xanxus?"

He gave a sigh. She was still working fine. That's all that mattered... There was still the problem with her legs--

There was a knocking on his door. He stood up from the bed and walked towards the door, _calmly _(so he could then _violently_ kill the intruding piece of trash...).

There was no one at the door.

Xanxus growled. If this was a prank, the prankster better be prepared to--

"Xanxus."

Zero stood behind him, staring at the ground. She crouched--or at least, tried to crouch--and reached her hand out, under his legs.

He saw what she was reaching for.

Her leg.

"Xanxus," she said. She lifted her leg up for him. "Xanxus." She was very upset.

Xanxus growled again, this time in annoyance. He was going to have to get a mechanic... He would have to call Gianichi. Damn... Xanxus hated the mechanic (there was a lot he hated...) but he was a good engineer and part of the Vongola.

He would have to call him.

Zero began pulling on his leg.

"Xanxus, Xanxus!" She looked at him with what could be called worried eyes. She was still learning how to be human...

"It'll be fine. You'll be fixed by end of tomorrow."

She tilted her head once more. Fixed? She looked at her leg and then, back to Xanxus. She felt her mouth tug upwards. Fixed... She would be fine.

Fine. Fine, fine, fine, fine...

She felt hungry and sleepy... No food around her, so sleep will do...

* * *

Meanwhile, Levi and the others were having mini heart attacks.

Well, it was only Levi having the heart attack while Bel watched and Lussuria left to make something.

"You should tell the boss," said Bel. "He won't kill you."

They both knew that was a lie.

Levi glared at Bel. He was not helping the situation! Bel pretty much figured out what happened when he saw Zero's leg in the bag. Sure, he was surprised (like anyone else would be) when he saw the leg in the first place but he calmed down pretty quickly. He was the Prince, afterall! He couldn't be stricken with panic after just seeing a limb. He's seen worse than that. What bothered him was the fact that the leg was mechanical.

Levi was on the ground in a fetal position.

Did that mean Zero is a robot?

No, that couldn't be. Bel for sure saw blood when she tried to eat his knife... So maybe she's an amputee? Still, she was pretty young for an amputee. The stress from having a limb cut off would normally kill a child... She looked younger than himself! Levi let out a yell.

...how old _was_ she? Squalo didn't know either. She could be older than she looked...

He thought it through for a second. In the background, Levi was up and pulling his hair.

He himself was eight years old, Squalo was fourteen, Boss was sixteen, Levi was fifteen, Lussuria was seventeen and who knew about Mammon. He might as well have been a hundred...

Bel paused his thoughts for a minute.

"...Squalo really is a pedophile," he mumbled. Levi turned a chair over. "Shut up, Levi! You'll bring the boss down here with your racket!"

Levi ceased his noise making.

Mammon floated into the room and saw that the living room was a mess. He gave it a quick look around and moved on to the kitchen, completely ignoring the two within the room.

Levi was too depressed to say anything or even retort back.

He did return the leg...that had to count for something, right?

He gulped. If she mentioned, er, motioned anything to the boss about Levi... He was dead.

"You should stop worrying so much! Here! Have a piece of cake." Lussuria entered with several plates and Mammon following him out the kitchen, with his own slice of cake and sat down beside Bel.

"Once Boss finds out, he will definitely kill you," said Mammon as he took a bite of his cake.

"Ushishishi... We'll have to find another member right? We should start to post ads around Italy."

"Xanxus."

The four males in the room turned towards the unfamiliar voice and saw a familiar face.

Zero took one of the plates that Lussuria set on a table and was happily stuffing her face, while kicking her...leg in mid air. She sat on the table and chewed.

Levi was frozen in place as he stared at the girl. Where did she come from?

Bel was the first to speak. "You can talk?"

Zero looked up at Bel and said a muffled, "Xanxus."

"Don't talk with your mouth full! It's rude!" said Lussuria.

"Seems like all she can say is Boss' name..." said Mammon. He put his plate down. "Is the Boss in his room?"

Zero nodded.

"Is he sleeping?" asked Lussuria.

Nod.

"Is he angry?" asked Levi, desperately.

She didn't nod. She stared at his cake. She looked down to her empty plate. She looked up at Levi's face. Everyone in the room practically heard her scream 'Gimme the cake!'

Levi twitched and handed the cake over.

She happily accepted the cake and nodded her head.

Levi paled. But he doesn't know it was him, right? He had to word this carefully...

"Is he angry at me?"

Zero looked at her new empty plate. She looked back at Levi. She wanted more cake.

Levi quickly turned to Lussuria, silently asking if they had more. Lussuria nodded and Levi ran towards the kitchen and came back in a blink of an eye with boxes of what was probably full of pasteries.

"Do you know how expensive those are?" Lussuria protested but Levi had more important matters to attend.

He opened a box and took out a fruit tart. He handed Zero ten tarts.

Her eyes became wide and sparkly. She shoved a tart in her mouth and smiled. Whatever unhappy feeling she felt for her leg was gone as she put another tart in her mouth.

She remembered that she should answer Spikey's question.

She turned to face him and shook her head saying 'no.' Xanxus didn't know who he should be angry towards.

Levi breathed a sigh in relief. ...she could still tell... He had to make sure.

"You...won't tell, will you?"

Zero had no more tarts. She looked at the boxes in Spikey's hands. She pointed at them.

"Ushishishi... She's kinda like a dog now, huh? Give a treat for a trick..." Bel stayed silent the entire time, just to observe but he was done now and it was late. He had a good idea for tomorrow... "I'm going to sleep. Bye bi." Bel left the room and headed for his room. Mammon left for the kitchen again.

Levi groaned as he handed Zero a cream tart.

Zero gave him something close to a smile and swallowed the tart.

She shook her head.

Levi felt as if a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders.

Lussuria clapped his hands together. "Now, now! It's late and we should follow Bel's example! It's past the bedtime for little boys and girls!" He turned towards Zero. "Remember to brush your teeth before you sleep or you'll get cavities."

Zero nodded. She jumped off the table and followed Lussuria out.

Levi was left alone.

He felt glad, anger, relief and a bit happy?

He was about to leave the room too when he noticed the mess that he and everyone else made. He felt the weight come back on his shoulders with reinforcements.

"I'll clean this up for you if you pay me."

Levi didn't even have to look to see who that was.

Mammon smirked and left the room to Levi, who took it upon himself to be in the fetal position.

* * *

When Squalo returned from his missions, he wondered if he missed something.

Zero was hopping around on one leg (turned out the mechanic wouldn't come for at least another week), following Levi around.

Levi looked annoyed and yet, Squalo could see a sense of...accomplishment? For what?!

Bel let out a whistle. Zero turned around to see him with a gumdrop. She stopped following Levi and went after Bel.

Squalo kept staring.

Bel told her to do something and she left the room. She came back quickly with a book. She handed the book over to him and Bel tossed the gumdrop into her mouth. Zero chewed it with delight.

Squalo left the room, feeling a bit out of place. He handed the reports in to Xanxus (who did nothing but throw his phone out the window after a phone call, completely ignoring Squalo) and returned back to check up on Zero.

...she was doing various jobs for Bel and receiving a gumdrop for every job accomplished.

Zero looked up from setting down a tray of cookies. She snatched a cookie and walked up to Squalo. Once she reached him, she looked down at the cookie in her hands and broke it in half. She took his right hand and placed one of her cookie in it and skipped away.

...did he just imagine that? Did that gluttonous girl just share her cookie with him?

Squalo decided to stay in his room and stop his missions for awhile. He must have overworked...

* * *

**Next Sin- Sloth**

* * *


	3. Third Sin: Sloth

Disclaimer- I only own Zero.

* * *

When Squalo found out Zero could talk, his face twisted into fury.

"VOOOOOOOOOOIIIIIII! I KNEW IT! I KNEW YOU WERE JUST ACTING RETARDED!!!!! GET OVER HERE!!"

Of course, anyone would be terrified of how loud Squalo's voice was and Zero was no different. She started running away from Squalo.

Bel, Squalo, and Zero were the only ones left in the mansion. The others left on a mission.

Bel was occupied with finding information. He, being a genius, wanted to know everything. Zero's leg caught him off guard--

"GOT YOU!! YOU LITTLE BRAT!" Squalo twisted his right fist into the top of Zero's head, causing her to yell out.

"XaaaAAAAAaaaannnNNNNnnXXXXUUUuuuuuusssssssSSSSS!!"

"THERE'S NO FUCKING WAY THAT'S ALL YOU KNOW HOW TO SAY!!"

To the best of his abilities, Bel ignored them. Hmm? What was this? Bel pulled out a small notebook. "Project Z.E.R..." Bel flipped through the pages.

"Toothpaste! Toothpaste toothpaste!"

"What is that supposed to mean? ...you're not talking about ME, are you?"

"...toothpaste?"

Squalo twisted his fist once more.

"TOOOoooTHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhPAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSsssTTTTTTTTTTTTTtttttttt--!!"

Squalo blinked. She was knocked out. ...how weak was she? After a few minutes, Squalo started to wonder ...she was just sleeping, right?

Surprised by the sudden silence, Bel stopped his reading and turned to see Squalo splayed on the couch with Zero on his stomach. The same position that Bel first saw Zero in... She was sleeping. She must've been tired. She hasn't been able to eat anything yet. Perhaps now was a good time to ask...

"What do you know about Zero?" asked Bel.

"Eh?" Squalo twisted his head to look at Bel. "Nothing much. Xanxus and I went down to some military base to pick her up." He was pulling on her cheeks. She was a pretty heavy sleeper--

"She shouldn't even be alive."

"Huh?"

Squalo looked up from looking at Zero.

"Zero. It's in this book." Bel held up said-book. He started to read from it. "Project Z.E.R. IncompletO. Beginning, first month- One of hundred trials for test tube babies. Left in hospital when first 'born.' Born with no legs or eyes. Less than zero percent chance of surviving first month. Second month- Surprising results; Z.E.R. survived. Other trials dead. Chance in succeeding: 0.078 percent. Third month- Still alive. Testing will resume." Bel closed the book. "It goes on later about how she kept survivng through the months. She grew pretty fast in the beginning stages and then slowed down extremely after the sixth month. After her growth stunt, she was given to a military for weapons testing."

Squalo gave Bel a weird look. "If she was born with no legs then-- Wait." She did just walk(hop, skip, jump, whatever) around without one of her legs (thankfully, the mechanic came two days ago to fix that) and her eyes were... He opened one of her eyes again. Glowing red...

Bel answered Squalo's silent question. "She's a cyborg. There was really no chance for her to have lived but she survived through pure will." He let out a small chuckle. "And because I'm a genius, I know why Boss needs her."

Squalo looked away from Zero and back to Bel, motioning him to continue.

Bel showed his wide smile.

"Before that, guess how old she is."

Why was he smiling like that? She couldn't be that old... "...four?" guess Squalo.

"Add forty more to that."

* * *

**Third Sin- Sloth**

* * *

"Come here."

"Get that."

"Bring it over here."

"I want milk."

"Go over there."

"Give it to me."

"Hurry up and--"

"VOOOOIIII!!! SHE'S NOT A FUCKING DOG!!"

Bel looked up from his book. He gave Squalo a shrug. "It's...equivalent exchange. I give her gumdrops, she gets me what I want." To prove his point, Zero came in with a rag cloth, a bag and cuts all over her fingers. She set down the bag, which unraveled itself, revealing Bel's knives.

"All cleaned?"

Zero nodded. "Xanxus." She opened her mouth which Bel then tossed in the yellow coloured candy.

Squalo twitched. "She only gets a gumdrop for that?!"

Bel shot him a grin. "She's pretty happy with it."

Squalo turned to Zero. "Are you happy with it?"

Zero turned to Squalo. She tilted her head. He was staring at her...did he want something? She looked at her hand. She had nothing to give him. She swallowed the gumdrop too. What could she give him?

...she didn't realize Squalo was talking to her. She felt a fist at her head again. Her eyes widened and she looked at Squalo, who sat down to match her eyes. His eyes were narrowed into annoyance.

Panicked, she started to spew words to form his name. "Sq--Sq-sq-sq-sq-s-s-s-SQUEAKY!"

Squalo stopped before he could continue. He blinked before he said, "What?"

Bel cackled. "She's saying your name, Squeaky." He watched the scene as he plopped a gumdrop into his own mouth.

Squalo, meanwhile, growled and started to mess up Zero's hair. "It's SQUALO! Say it right damn it!"

"Squ-squ-squ-squa-squa-squak-" Zero stopped. With a determined face, she turned to look at Squalo in the eye. Squalo in turn raised an eyebrow in confusion. What did she want?

He soon received his answer as Zero jumped up and chomped on nose and quickly ran away. It took a few seconds for him to process that. A few more seconds were needed for the brain to process the pain.

"VVOOOOOOOOOOOIIIIIIIII!!! WHAT THE HELL?! GET BACK HERE!!"

Bel laughed. "Ushishishishi..."

"What's going on? Did I miss something?" Lussuria asked as he entered the room. He carried a large bag with him and sidestepped Zero when he saw her run by him. He noticed her chaser too late and knocked heads with Squalo.

"Ah, FUCK! What the hell Lussuria?! Get out of the way!" said Squalo as he rubbed his head.

Lussuria fixed his sunglasses and frowned. "How rude! I just got here you know!"

Squalo sneered. Whatever. He couldn't deal with the flamboyant Varia member. He was never able to. From the first moment the two laid eyes on each other, Squalo regretted joining the Varia. He kept fucking staring at his hair! It seriously creeped him out! Then, there was the fact that the gay man was not only gay but a necrophiliac...

"Besides," Lussuria continued. "I got something for little Zero."

Zero, hearing her name, appeared before Lussuria with reaching hands, hoping for food.

Lussuria, guessing she was wanting food, shook his head. "Uh-uh! It's not food!"

She quickly lost interest.

Lussuria held onto her shoulder before she could walk away. "Hold it, hold it, hold it! Even if it's not food, you should get to be interested in other things you know! Squalo, hold her... Yes, just like that." He started rummaging through his bags.

Zero squrimed in Squalo's arms until she saw his sword. Did he always have that with him? She never noticed. She was always just looking at his hair... Maybe it tastes like toothpaste too? Try it...

Clomp.

Zero whimpered. "Uuuu..."

Squalo looked down, seeing what happened. "What the hell? Did you just try to eat my sword?"

She had a large cut from one end of her mouth to the other. Squalo mumbled saying something like 'not again...' and he walked over to the same couch the two were on before. Carrying Zero, he sat down and placed her on his lap. He brought his sleeve over his right hand and not-so-gently, wiped Zero's mouth.

"You have to stop eating whatever's in sight, damn it. Your morphine isn't gonna keep pumping into you forever you know... Stay still!" She kept wriggling away from him. After biting his left one, she was pretty scared of his hands.

Lussuria turned his head towards Squalo. "Morphine?"

"Yeah. Can you believe it-- VOOOIII! STOP MOVING! You're a lot heavier than you think you are!-- Her legs pump the morphine into her... That explains a lot of stuff during the first week she was here..." Squalo gave up cleaning the blood off her mouth and instead, tugged on a small tube on Zero's leg, causing her to let out a yelp. She frowned slightly and pulled his hair. Squalo batted her hand away.

"Ushishishi... Looks like only the Boss knew. Here, catch." Bel threw a scruffy, leather bound book at Lussuria, who caught it with ease. "I'm done with it. Keep it."

Lussuria's face turned to confusion but he had something else in mind. He tucked the book away in his back pocket and revealed what he brought.

"Look! Isn't it great?"

Squalo's brows crumpled. "...a book?" Zero reached towards it but Squalo wrapped his arms around her small shoulder and kept her still. She had to learn to stop doing whatever she wanted.

Lussuria held the book up above his head and explained, dramatically. "Not just any book! A fairy tale book!"

"...you're such a fairy."

Ignoring the comment, he turned to Zero. "She needs to learn more than one word and what better way than reading?"

"She knows three," mentioned Bel.

"Regardless! The faster she learns, the better for all of us, right?"

"How is it exactly better for all of us? Isn't it just helping her?"

"Bee~eel! You should get to know someone that's closer to your age! Maybe you should go to schoo--"

"She's forty-four years old," interrupted Squalo.

"Squeaky." Zero nodded.

Squalo glared down at her. "Vooooi....Are you trying to piss me off?"

Lussuria continued on. "Well, she's still just-- FORTY-FOUR?!"

Squalo had to blink from the quick change of tone from Lussuria's voice.

"I'm telling you to read the book," said Bel. He waved for Zero to come over to him. He had a gumdrop in his other hand. Squalo was put off guard and Zero took advantage of that as she jumped off his lap and went over to Bel.

"Where the hell are you getting those?" asked Squalo. He was just grabbing them out of no where! Seriously, was there a secret hole in his chair or something?

"The Prince doesn't need to answer to you."

The two continued bickering as Zero became bored once more since Bel didn't give up the gumdrop so she went over to Lussuria, who was reading the book Bel threw to him.

Zero climbed to Lussuria's shoulders and sat there, looking above his head to the book. She felt dizzy from looking at the chicken scratch called words written in the book. She plopped her head against Lussuria's and mumbled Xanxus.

Lussuria calmly closed the book. He tilted forward and Zero flipped over his head. With a thud, she landed on the carpet, unharmed. She blinked up at Lussuria. He gave her a smile.

"Well, well! Nothing can be done about that! I'll go get some snacks for little Zero! Bee~el! Why don't you read something for her?" He left for the kitchen.

Zero blinked after him and turned to face the two assasins left over.

"...he got over that pretty quick," mumbled Squalo.

"He's probably still processing the information. So slow!" Bel turned to Zero. There was no way he was going to spend time teaching her--

"I'm out of here," said Squalo quickly and left the room. He was NOT going to stay by to teach a brat how to read. Like he mentioned before, he was not a fucking babysitter (regardless of how old Zero actually was; if it looks like a brat, it is a brat) A baby should just teach another baby.

And then there were two.

Zero stared and Bel stared right back. Bel bit back a groan. He really didn't want to teach basics to anyone. Zero, meanwhile, noticed the metal piece on his head again. She tilted her head and pointed at it with a questioning gaze.

"This? My crown. I have it 'cause I'm the Prince."

She looked confused. A plan started to form in Bel's mind. Zero ran over to his chair and sat on the ground in front of him. He gave her a wide grin.

"Because I'm the Prince, you should do what I say."

Her expression made a 'why' face.

"Princes are next in line to be King and Kings are chosen by Gods to lead over people. Therefore, you should do as I say."

That made sense. Zero was pretty easy to manipulate...

Before Bel could say anymore, Lussuria called out from the kitchen.

"Be~eel! Are you teaching Zero?"

Bel let out a sigh of wearyness. "Like I have to listen to you..." He smirked. Teach, huh...

* * *

Squalo came back from his room, wearing casual clothes. There was blood on his Varia coat and it was too hot to wear it everywhere. When Squalo re-entered the previous room, he saw a similar scene. Zero was picking up books and cleaning knives and getting Bel drinks and dusting the furniture... There was a major difference between the first and present scene.

Zero was receiving nothing in return.

Squalo hastely strided towards Bel. He barked out, "Vooiii!! What did you do!?"

"Nothing," replied Bel. It was true. He didn't do anything. He only said stuff and hasn't moved from the chair since then. Lussuria came by once in awhile and Bel would pretend to read a book to Zero and once he left, after leaving snacks, he kicked back and relaxed as he watched Zero do his chores. She was willing and because Bel was a kind Prince, who was he to say she couldn't do his work? She was happy enough.

As Zero ran past Squalo, he grabbed her head and stopped her. He turned her around and asked, "What did he," he motioned to Bel, "Say to you?"

She replied in her usual one-word sentences. "Prince."

Surprisingly, Squalo understood everything after that. He growled as he turned to Bel.

"You can't fucking do that! What are you gonna do if she becomes even more messed up than she is now?"

"I haven't said anything that'll harm her." That was true...to a limit and she was learning new words.

Squalo gave him a suspicious glare but left it alone. He was getting tired of being overworked by the little girl. He simply said, "Levi's back," and headed for the kitchen.

A lightbulb went over the Prince's head. He jumped off his chair and went over to the bag Lussuria brought with him. Bel peered inside to look for a particular book. He was true to his word; he was going to teach Zero but no one said anything about WHAT to teach her.

"Zero, wanna learn how to read?"

* * *

_"Ti ritiri tu?" _(You withdrawals you?)

_"Titi... Ti ritiri tu?"_

_"Trentatré Trentini entrarono a Trento, tutti e trentatré, trotterellando." _(Thirty-three Trentinians were trottering in Trento all thirty-three trottering)

_"Trentatré Trent-t-t-ini tr--eeeh--entrarono a Trento...tre-tu-tutti e trent--ren-ren-tatré, trot. Te. Re. Llan. Do."_

_"Sopra la panca la capra campa, sotto la panca to capra crepa." _(On the bench the goat lives, under the bench the goat dies)

_"Sopra la panca la campra...ca-capra campa, sotto la pamca--panca to copra CAPRA! Crapa. CREPA!"_

_"Apelle, figlio di Apollo, fece una palla di pelle di pollo. Tutti i pesci vennero a galla, per vedere la palla di pelle di pollo fatta da Apelle, figlio di Apollo." _(Apelle, son of Apollo, made a ball out of chicken skin. All the fishes came to the surface to see the ball made of chicken skin by Apelle, son of Apollo)

_"Apelle, figlio di Apollo, fece una palla di pello di polle... palla di pelle di pollo. Tutti i pesdi pesci nenero a galla--"_

_"Se l'arcivescovo di Constantinopoli si disarcivescoviscostantinopolizzasse, vi disarcivescoviscostantinopollizzereste come si è disarcivescoviscostantinopolizzato lui?"_ (If Constantinople's archbishop desconstantinoplesarchbishopizes himself, will you desconstantinoplesarchbishopize yourself as he desconstantinoplesarchbishopized himself?)

"..."

"Shishishi! You suck Levi!" said Bel as he started to laugh more. See? Bel was teaching Zero just fine. She was learning how to recite! And Bel, being the genius he was, is and always will be, taught the girl how to read in less than two hours! She can speak perfectly fine! (Nevermind the fact that she can't speak without a book in front of her to help her) Who cares if she all she was learning were tongue twisters? They might be handy someday.

And, like he planned, after he finished his job, Levi came in and what better way to kill time than make the suck-up look stupider than he usually was?

Levi grabbed the book from Zero's hand and threw it at Bel. "I'd like to see you try!"

Bel threw a knife back and struck the book before it could hit him. "I'm the Prince and I'm perfect. I don't have to show it to prove it."

Zero nodded. The Prince is the Prince.

Bel revealed his brilliant smile. Converting complete!

Bel admitted it. He liked Zero. She was smaller than him (other than Mammon, she was the smallest). She was a girl. She was easy to order around and she believed in pretty much anything anyone said. She was like a pet. A Prince needs a pet, doesn't he?

Lussuria's voice broke out from the dining room. "Everyone! Dinner's ready!"

Zero was the first to arrive but before she could sit down, Lussuria asked her to get Xanxus. Levi volenteered himself to go but Zero went out first. She hasn't seen Xanxus for awhile.

She tilted her head. Was he was here all this time?

Turns out he came back a few hours ago... Mammon was still gone though.

Zero reached his office. She pushed the door slightly, just enough for her one eye to peer through. Her eye switched to her infrared one. She looked around. Desk, lamp, books, paper, pen, ink... Where was Xanxus?

Suddenly, the door was pulled all the way back. Xanxus' figure loomed over Zero's. She blinked up at him. She broke out in a smile. She should show him what she learned!

"Dinner! Xanxus!" ...okay, she was still speaking in one-word sentences but if she had a book in front of her, she could speak perfectly fine! Really! ...not really... She knew how to read...didn't mean she understood what she was reading... She still learned new words at least!

Xanxus had his usual passive face. He muttered under his breath. "Trash can still be useful once in awhile..." He ruffled her hair as he walked past her. When he reached the stairs, he turned back.

"Hurry up. I hate waiting."

Zero had on a mildly surprised face but that soon turned to another small smile. She nodded.

"Xanxus."

And followed after.

* * *

**Next Sin - Greed**


	4. Fourth Sin: Greed

Disclaimer- I don't own anything.

* * *

Mammon wondered how he was in this situation.

Zero's breathing was heard above him. She had the illusionist in her clutch. Mammon was on her lap with Zero's arms around him. Fantasma was sleeping on her head while her head rested on Mammon's.

Mammon looked at the book he was holding.

That's right. It was because of the book. And Bel. Stupid Bel. One of these days, he was going to die.

Damn him.

Once Mammon came back from his mission, Lussuria bombarded him to read Zero stories. Of course, if you wanted something from Mammon, you would need to pay.

Literally.

Surprisingly, it was Squalo who offered to pay him. Lussuria helped out in ways he could, but the majority of the money given was by Squalo. Levi would have done it too but he was already in Mammon's debt.

Again, it was all because of Bel.

Damn him.

Zero now had what the Varia called the 'Prince-disease.' Bel, of course, had the disease but when no one was around, he somehow transferred it over to Zero as well. It's not that she called herself a prince but she treated Bel like he was...royalty. Seriously. She was pretty much his servant.

Xanxus wasn't pleased. He made Mammon teach Zero actual basics and because Xanxus is the boss, Mammon had to obey him, and of course, Xanxus didn't pay him.

Damn him.

Zero mumbled a few incoherent words now and then, as Mammon thought of just ripping himself out of her grasp but stopped when he heard her next word.

"Mammon..."

...hmph. Stupid gaping chibi... he thought to himself but stopped his escaping and let the girl dream, as he himself closed his own eyes to sleep.

* * *

**Fourth Sin- Greed**

* * *

Mammon had a plan. He had to give thanks to Bel for the forming of his plan.

Zero was really easy to manipulate. She believed pretty much anything anyone would say to her.

Mammon found out other abilities of hers. One, her eyes were able to detect any small movement. It was quickly memorized. Pretty much photogenic memory. Second, her legs were really strong. She was really fast. Third, physically, she was even weaker than Mammon... But speed and eyesight were better than nothing and to complete Mammon's plans...

She was going to school.

Bel lied on the couch, full length (which wasn't much, seeing how he was only an eight year old...) and gave Mammon a quizzical look.

"Eeeh? Why? School's so boring..."

"It's not for you, Bel," replied Mammon.

"I know, I know but why is Zero going? She's waaaay past the age limit for school."

"Can you really call living in a container living? Besides, no one would believe her if she said she was forty four years old... And she's not a genius."

"...true but...Zero!"

Zero looked up from tying her shoes. She was really proud of herself. She learned how to do it after watching it once on T.V.! She noticed that she was able to do a lot from just watching something once... She would ask the Prince about it later (because Princes know everything!)

"Prince?" In Zero speak, that was 'What do you want?'

"Do you even know what school is?"

Zero gave him her usual blank face. She blinked. ...school. She going there today... Lussu--Lujuu...Lu--Lu...--Lulu mentioned it to her once. All she knew was that Squeaky used to go there.

Mammon walked up to her. "If anyone tells you to do something for them or ask what family you're from just say Vongola and they'll give you whatever you want."

Zero blinked and nodded her head in understanding. Vongola. She should practice that word... VongoLA. VONgola? VonGOla! ...maybe she should give up--

Mammon continued to speak. "Once they ask you if you want anything, tell them to give you money."

Bel looked on as Mammon spoke to Zero. A sweatdrop formed on his forehead. Extortion? ...how typical of Mammon.

Zero blinked. Money... She could say that. Money, money, money, money, money, hungry, hungry, hungry... Zero blinked again. Hungry.

She said it out loud.

"Hungry."

"Guh..." Mammon turned away. _As usual..._ He thought. Mammon quickly disappeared into the kitchen and as that happened, Lussuria came in with his usual dramatic appearance.

Zero blinked.

"You blink a lot..." muttered Bel but he turned his attention to Lussuria.

"Zee~eero! You're going to school today for the first time!! Are you excited? Did you know that school's the same one Squalo went to? Do you--"

"Aren't you supposed to be on a mission?" Bel interrupted.

Lussuria turned to face Bel. "Already finished! And besides, it's Zero's first school day. How can I miss that? Like giving away a daughter..."

"Don't even wanna know," Bel finished off. He rose from his seat and stretched his arms. He swung forwards and jumped off the seat. He walked towards the exit. "Bye bye! Have fun with _school._" Bel couldn't really care less but her going to school means he loses his favorite toy for six hours...what would he do then...

As Bel left, Mammon came back in with a bag of cookies. He floated by Zero and dumped them on her head. She let out a small grunt but her mood changed to delight when she laid eyes on her breakfast...

"Cookies for breakfast?! That's a definite no-no!"

Zero whined as Lussuria took them away. She reached out for them.

"Cooooookiieeeeeee..."

Lussuria sighed. He put a hand on her forehead to keep the bag out of her reach. "Hmmm... Mammon! You should know better than give her sweets first thing in the morning!"

Mammon shrugged his shoulders. As long as the girl did what he told her to do, he could care less about other things.

"Cookie! Cookie! Cookie! Cookieeeee!!"

"Alright, alright... Just one, okay?"

Zero held up two of her fingers. "Two."

Lussuria stared at her. This was a first. Negotiating now? He chuckled a bit. She wasn't like this before... It must be Bel's fault...

"One," he said.

"Two!" But she insisted.

Lussuria let out another sigh. "You should at least use proper sentences. You know that much right?"

"Two cookies! Please!" She added the last word at the last second. People usually get what they want when they say 'please' right? She was tempted to say 'right now!'

"That isn't exactly a sentence..." But he gave up. "Here... Two and only two." He opened the bag and pulled out two cookies. Zero quickly grabbed them from his hands and munched on them happily.

Mammon spoke up. "Shouldn't she be going now?"

"Oh! That's right! Is Squalo here?"

"He's in his room."

Lussuria looked back to Zero, who finished her cookies and looked at her hands sadly.

"Cookie..." she said mournfully. She noticed the crumbs on her shirt and starting eating that too...

"Zero! If you get Squalo down here, I'll get you another cookie!"

Right away, Zero held up two fingers. "Two cookies! Please!"

Mammon smirked. She was really stubborn...

Lussuria waved his hands in defeat. "Alright, alright. Two cookies just get Squalo down here."

Zero nodded and ran out the door and to the second floor.

Lussuria put a hand to the side of his face. "...I think I'm spoiling her too much."

Mammon let out a small groan in disgust.

* * *

"...ky...Squeaky...Squeaky...Squeak..."

Squalo groaned and turned in his bed. Do beds actually make a squeaky sound? He felt a small pressure at his side. It was probably a pillow... Squalo grabbed the protruding object and placed it on his stomach.

"Oof..." Okay, that was heavier than he thought. Maybe it wasn't a pillow. He opened his eyes a little bit and wished he didn't.

"Squeaky. Squeaky. Squeaky. Squeaky." Zero stared at his face and bounced up and down as she continued her chant. "Squeaky. Squeaky. Squeaky. Squeaky. Squeaky."

"Go away...damn you..." Squalo mumbled as he pushed her off him and flipped the covers over his head.

Zero was covered up too. He only pushed her off him, not his bed. Her eyes shone red. What could she do? She reached over to Squalo once more. She tried to grab his sleeve...

He wasn't wearing clothes. Zero blinked. She's seen herself when a maid (the Varia decided to hire a couple once Zero joined them) helped her in a bath but it was the first time she saw another person without clothes.

Zero blinked. He was obviously much bigger than she was but she couldn't see much since the blanket was covering everything up. She stretched her hands up, moving the covers. It was getting too hot under it. She tried escaping but the covers were huge!

Xanxus' bed...bigger, she thought as she moved around. How do you get out of here? She decided to climb on Squalo to escape. She put her hands at his side and pushed herself over him. She stopped once she was up on his stomach once more. She put her hands flat on his abs. Not that she knew what abs were... She blinked. Maybe she should explore... A few times, she heard Squalo mumble something about leaving him alone... She ignored it.

Once she was used to seeing Squalo's chest, she became bored. What did she come here for again? Lulu told her something...

...whatever.

Zero turned herself around. She didn't get to see the other half of his body...

She stopped once more.

What's this?

Zero was pretty sure didn't have this on herself... She stopped thinking about eating people's limbs and hair and etc., ever since she bit Squalo's sword because you never know what happens... but that didn't mean she wasn't curious.

But this was new...

Hey, what would happen if she--

* * *

**"WHAT THE FUCK!?"**

There was a loud clattering and a few colourful words from Squalo. A loud thud was heard from what Bel guessed to be Squalo's room.

"...what was that?" asked Bel. He had a popsicle in his mouth and was back to where Lussuria and Mammon were. All three were looking up at the ceiling as crashes and the sounds of breaking started to become and louder and louder.

There was lots of moving around but that was all they were able to guess.

"...Zero must have done something," said Mammon.

Their answer came in the form of Squalo stomping down the stairs with Zero in one of his hands. He was dressed in a sloppy manner, his hair was in a disarray and a glare was on his face. He didn't even get to put his sword on... What? Do you actually think that he would sleep with a sword attached to his arm? Even if he was a master swordsman, he wasn't stupid. Of course he could take it off when sleeping! It's beside his bed, so he can still destroy anyone that comes in with a killing aura...

Squalo pulled Zero up towards the three Varia members' faces. Lussuria quickly took Zero out of his hand.

Once more, Squalo yelled.

**"WHAT THE FUCK!?"**

Bel blinked (not that anyone could see past his bangs...) and let out a 'what?'

Squalo made a series of hand gestures and opened and closed his mouth a few times... His face was flushed. He let out a few 'ah's' and 'urk's' but he suddenly stopped and the room became deathly quiet.

Zero tilted her head and blinked.

"Squeaky?"

That set him off to say...

**"WHAT THE FUCK!?"**

...once more.

"You said that three times. Is that all you can say? What did she do?" asked Mammon.

"She-she--she- SHE!" Squalo covered his face with one hand. He looked up as he saw four pairs of eyes staring at him. He growled and opened his mouth. "VOOOOOOOIIIIII!!!!!! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE, DAMN IT!!" With that, he stomped his way back up the stairs.

With the swordsman gone, the three now turned to the girl in Lussuria's arms.

"...so? What did you do?" asked Bel. He was really curious now. What could get Squalo so riled up that he couldn't even say it? Bel was sure that there was nothing that could make Squalo shut up about anything...

Zero blinked.

"Something there," she said which only confused the three even more. She continued. "So I pulled it."

Mammon connected two and two together and understood what she was saying. "That's enough. I don't need to know more."

Lussuria raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Hmm? I don't get it at all! Continue on, Zero."

"Lussuria, you should've got this by now," said Mammon. "It's _you _after all_."_

A few seconds passed and Bel looked at the two in confusion. "What?" He hated not knowing something. "Tell me or I'll kill you." He pulled out a knife as proof of his words.

"AH!!" Lussuria understood. He turned back to Zero as she blinked her eyes. "You did THAT?!"

Bel started to become frustrated. "What is it? Zero, say it."

Before Zero could open her mouth, Lussuria covered her face with his hand.

"Something children should go to school to know stuff like that."

"Huh?"

"Speaking of school, Squalo went back to his room... What do we do now? She's late either way now..."

Bel frowned as Lussuria was changing the topic... What did she do? But Bel couldn't even protest because the next phrase stopped him cold.

"I'll take her."

Lussuria and Bel looked at Mammon. ...did he just say--

"I'll take her."

He said it again! Mammon **offered **to take Zero to school. And he wanted no money?! That was pretty unbelievable... then again, just in case...

"No one's paying you to do this," said Lussuria.

"I know."

Okay, that was pretty unbelievable.

"Money isn't the only thing that motivates me, you know."

Nevermind, **_this _**phrase was unbelievable.

"Stop gaping at me. Zero, let's go."

Zero struggled out of Lussuria's arms and jumped down. She landed beside Mammon who then jumped up and sat on Zero's head.

Mammon had a piece of paper in his hands and sneezed onto it.

"I have a map. Let's go."

Zero left the room and headed for the double doors leading outside.

Lussuria and Bel stared until both were out of sight.

"Isn't the school pretty far off? Wouldn't Zero be tired of walking?" asked Lussuria with a worried frown.

"...she's like half-robot. She won't be tired. Her legs are mechanical, aren't they?"

"Hmmm... I guess so but won't it rust or break down from wear?"

"..." Bel stopped to think. That wasn't impossible... "...she'll be fine. Probably. She has Mammon with her--"

Whose to say Mammon would actually help her...? Speaking of which, there was no reason that Mammon would willingly do something for another human being without some sort of pay. The baby was planning something.

"She'll be fine," said Bel, ending the conversation. No need to think about it too much.

And they both left it at that.

* * *

Three hours had passed since Mammon and Zero left the building. Only to come back very soon...

"We're back."

"...what? From where?"

Mammon repeated his words. "We're back." He looked up to see who answered him back. Oh. It was Levi. Figures... Must be back from a mission. How zealous...

"Keep walking past the giant, Zero."

Yes, he was still on her head. Like hell he was going to walk. He had a transport that didn't get tired. Why would he ever need to walk?

Zero gave a small 'un!' in reply and did as she was told.

Mammon gave directions for Zero to go to the common room. Someone was usually there. Maybe if at least one person was there he could figure out a way to make that person tell the boss about the failure that happened at the school...

No one was there.

Mammon let out a sigh. Okay, maybe he'll be lucky enough that--

"What are you doing here, trash?"

--Xanxus wouldn't be home...

Mammon was really hoping that he didn't get to see him.

Why? He would rather not say. It has to do with school. Mammon learned what a moron Zero truly was. She couldn't tell what his mood was. She couldn't tell the emotions on other people's faces. She couldn't feel the tension in the room once Xanxus stepped in. She just blinked and ran over to their boss so fast, Mammon trapezed over to the couch.

"Xanxus! Xanxus!" Zero ran over to her favourite person and leaped with arms open until a foot tripped her.

Ah, Levi... thought Mammon. He was wondering why he didn't follow the two of them to the common room.

Zero stayed planted in her position for a few seconds. She probably needed those few seconds to process what just happened to her. Mammon quickly took advantage to this opportunity to escape.

And at that time Zero jumped up and held out a piece of paper. She had a wide grin on her face with wider eyes. She waved her arms madly.

"Look! Look! Note! Note! Note!"

Xanxus reached out his arms and swiped it out of Zero's hand.

"What the hell is this..."

_Dear Guardian/Parent,_

_It has been exactly one hour and thirty-six minutes since dear **Zero **(that cannot really be her name, can it?) entered our school. We sent her back. Please keep her there. We say this with our most humblest apologizes. _

**_We never want her here again._**

_Thank you._

_From the school board of--_

Pssh. Like Xanxus was going to read all that. He burnt it to ashes before he could finish reading it. He was a bit pissed off about the note. He wasn't a guardian or a parent, damn it. Is a child the parent to it's toy? Is a chef a guardian to it's culinery tools? No. They're owners and that's what he was, damn it. Zero's owner. Simple as that. End of story.

Zero was tugging at Xanxus' pants. She tilted her head towards him and said, "School?"

Xanxus looked down as he threw the ashes to Levi (who graciously accepted it) and replied, "If you wanna know something just ask the trash. One of them should have an answer to it. What the fuck is school for..."

He had to admit, Xanxus was kind of curious as to what Zero did that made her get expelled so quickly. He would have to ask Mammon about it later.

Speaking of Mammon, where did he go? He disappeared pretty quickly... He looked back at Zero, still looking at him with her wide eyes. He opened his mouth to say a command.

"Find Mammon."

Levi kept quiet until he heard Xanxus' order voice. Even though, he was speaking to Zero, Levi wasn't going to pass up a chance to receive praise from the boss. He didn't hate Zero (as much as before) but he wanted boss' approval more than anything. There was no way that Zero could find Mammon before he did--

"Mammon!"

Huh? Levi looked to see Zero with her arms full. She was holding Mammon tightly in her arms. She looked...like a girl with her favourtie teddy bear. Zero tubbed her face against Mammon's head. She kept repeating the Arcobaleno's name.

"Mammon, Mammon, Mammon, Mammon, Mammon..."

...something major must have happened during that one hour and thirty-six minutes.

While Zero looked delighted, Mammon looked like he was sweating bullets. He was really nervous.

Xanxus stared at his coldly. "What happened?"

Mammon turned his head off to the side. Even he himself didn't want to admit what happened. Oh, let something else say it instead!!

"Bye-bye money!"

...he was kidding about that.

Xanxus kept his posture. "What?"

Zero stopped her cuddling (Finally, Mammon screamed inwardly) to look into Xanxus' eyes. She let out a giggle.

"Mammon!" She pointed at her 'favourite teddy' then pointed at herself. "Gave food!"

Xanxus resisted the urge to groan. Like that was anything new... But Xanxus knew Zero and she wasn't as big of a moron as she appeared to be, so he let her continue.

"Food was chair!"

...what?

Levi blinked in confusion. What the heck does that mean? It can't really mean--

"Mammon did!"

Mammon is an illusionist. Levi fell for his illusions more than once and understood how 'real' his illusions could be.

Levi had a in-the-making Zero translator. So far, he was able to get: Mammon gave me food. Chair was the food that Mammon made.

...okay, that made no sense. He tried it again.

Mammon made food for me. The chair became food--

Levi's eyes widened in realization. So that's what she meant. Okay, she ate a chair. He was mildly surprised but this was Zero so he continued on listening.

"--desk food! Pencil food! Pen food! Shoe food! Teacher food! Window food!--"

Wait. Did she say 'Teacher food?' ...Zero is a cannibal?! Nah, she couldn't have--

Xanxus spoke up. "Stop. What did you mean before?"

Zero looked at Xanxus in confusion. "Before? Mammon...gave food?"

"Before that."

"Bye-bye money!"

"That..."

Mammon let out a groan. It really was bye-bye money... His plan completely backfired...

* * *

Zero was hungry per usual and kept making whimpering sounds throughout class time. The teacher of course wasn't pleased but ignored it to the best of her abilities. She was already annoyed that a small brat and a baby interrupted her class with a note from the principal saying that the girl was special. Never said anything about the baby but he wasn't moving anytime soon.

Mammon was bored. He decided to practice his techniques. So he turned a couple of stationary objects into pieces of fruit. Nevermind that they were illusions... Mammon was sitting on her head and tapped her with his foot, pointing to the pencil on her desk.

Zero blinked and stared at the pencil.

...it was a pencil. An inch small, dull pencil but a pencil nonetheless.

Zero moved her eyes towards Mammon. She has to write?

Mammon tilted his head slightly. ...can't she see that it's a strawberry now? Maybe her brain was really too slow to tell that it's in an illusion? He had another thought.

Or maybe she was really perceptive. She did have machine eyes afterall... Mammon made a stronger one. How far could she see through them, he wondered.

Mammon tapped her head again and pointed at the pencil.

Again, Zero blinked. She only saw a pencil. She didn't feel like writing.

...huh. That's kinda impressive, Mammon thought. He was sure that this one was strong enough to fool the girl... But still, even machines can get hoodwinked.

The same things continued for a couple of minutes before Zero realized that a strawberry was in front of her.

She blinked. Was it there before? Wasn't there a pencil before? Zero grabbed the fruit and inspected it. It was a funny shape for a strawberry. Long and narrow...

...how come it was turning yellow? And the end of it turned pink and--

...it was a pencil.

Zero blinked in surprise. She was holding a strawberry right? It turned into a pencil!

Mammon was beginning to be more than just a bit frustrated. She broke through the spell! She was back to slouching on the desk with her eyes unfocused... That might be it! She wasn't as focused as she was before when staring at the pencil, so it looked like a strawberry until she started to concentrate...

Damn. The girl was able to defeat all his illusions so far... What would happen if she trained her eyes...but if it was only sight, then she would still lose to him in a fight. Mentally or whatever-lly, she might be strong but physically, she was definitely weak as hell.

Whatever. Training wasn't his forte.

Mammon was stubborn. He wasn't about to let a little girl get the best of him and break through everything he had.

* * *

Mammon stopped his story.

Xanxus glared. "And?"

Mammon hesitated but decided something was better than nothing.

"...she did fall for the stronger illusions...but it went out of hand..."

Levi remembered Zero's previous words about desk food, pen food, pencil food, teacher food-- He still needed to know about that.

"She didn't eat anyone, did she?"

Mammon turned towards Levi.

"No, but she did bite the teacher. Her screaming broke the illusion."

Zero licked her lips. "Num-num!"

Levi hoped that she wasn't thinking of the teacher while saying that...

Xanxus still wasn't satisfied. Okay, so Zero ate a bunch of school stuff. Like anyone cares about those. You have to replace them, right? What would make Mammon this nervous? Unless he lost a lot of--

Xanxus' own eyes went wide.

"You," he said very calmly. "What did you do."

It wasn't a question. It was more of a concealed threat.

Once again, Zero, being ignorant and unable to tell the distress coming from Mammon, answered happily.

"Meat money gone!"

The little moron was getting smarter... How did she know that Mammon used the...'meat money?' ...maybe Zero was really a smartie instead of a dummy and fooled them all...

One could practically see a vein pop from Xanxus. Levi had to blink a couple of times to see if he was really seeing what he was seeing.

Everyone knows Xanxus loves his red, bloody animal flesh.

And Mammon knows how expensive all of that is and him being the money person, took some of that to pay for the damages done to the school (it's a mafia school, you can't exactly hit and run). By some, it pretty much meant all.

Mammon hated being burnt to a crisp but if it came down to be in the bad graces of his boss or spending thousands of his own money, well, what do you think?

So then, what happened to Mammon?

He wrenched himself from the clutches of Zero and flew out the balcony. Xanxus followed after him. He jumped over the couch and stood on the balcony but instead of jumping off it to chase after the baby, he grabbed the guns he kept at his side and rapidly shot his Flames of Rage in the sky. He was able to melt a part of the balcony, just by standing there.

Mammon was going to be on missions for a while.

Zero decided that she wanted to keep Mammon.

She asked Xanxus if she could keep him.

Xanxus told her she could have his dead body.

Zero didn't mind. She asked Bel (when he came back from doing who knows what) how does one keep a dead body?

Bel smiled, showing his perfect teeth. The screwing of her mind started once more...

* * *

When Squalo found out that Zero could say Mammon's name, he was... not so happy.

Zero decided that she, not only wanted to keep but, liked Mammon, therefore, she should know his name.

The third name that Zero was able to say properly was Mammon. (Second being Levi; ever since the pastry giving, Zero decided to like Levi second...)

That really pissed off Squalo.

"VOOOOOOOOOOOIIIIIIII!!!!!!!! WHAT THE HELL?! YOU BARELY KNOW MAMMON AND YET YOU CAN SAY HIS NAME AFTER ONLY ONE DAY OF BEING WITH HIM?!?!? WHAT ABOUT ME, DAMN IT?!?!"

Of course, Squalo would never say that and kept the above quote to himself but everytime he saw Zero, he would make sure to glare at her with enough power to melt and re-freeze the Arctics.

Bel told him that Zero doesn't call Bel by his own name either, but then again, he didn't mind being called 'Prince...' Squalo was still called 'Squeaky.'

Seriously, wouldn't you be pissed off too if you knew someone for practically their entire lives (which is like six months; living in a cylinder for forty years doesn't count as living) and they still can't get your name right?!

"Squeaky."

With an eye twitching, Squalo looked down and barked out, "What?!"

She held out a strawberry.

Squalo stared at the fruit in Zero's hand. She looked at him with a mixture of fear, sincerity, worry and...a look that owners give their pets when handing them treats... Before Squalo could make Zero lose more brain cells, she jumped up (she had really strong 'legs') and shoved the fruit into his mouth. That ended up with Squalo falling to his knees, coughing in surprise.

Happy with her job well done, she left to go find Mammon. Was he back yet...?

There was a click and a flash of light. Squalo looked up from the ground to see a grinning Bel, waving a piece of paper, using his wrist to flutter it back and forth. He held a camera in his hands. He stopped movement of the paper and held it up for Squalo to see.

It was a picture of Squalo. Choking.

"We have all the pictures for holiday cards now." After saying this, the little boy quickly ran off with the older chasing after him.

What Squalo didn't know was that Zero only shared her food with him. It was kind of an apology for not being able to say his name.

It didn't really matter since Squalo would never get that.

* * *

**Next sin - Lust**

Short A/N - ...longest chapter I ever wrote... This was also the hardest chapter I ever wrote. I wasn't sure what to do with this... Sorry if this one isn't as great as it could be... Next chapter will (hopefully) be better!

Thank you for reading!

* * *


	5. Fifth Sin: Lust

a/n- ...I'll just say this: I will never look at fish, nets, or fishing in general the same way again... It's not as bad as you're thinking... It's just really heavy implications... I don't think I'll eat sushi anytime soon... Don't do anything mentioned in here unless you're of age... Anyway...

Disclaimer- I only own Zero.

* * *

Often, the Varia members forgot that they had a female member on their team.

There were times when even she herself forgot she was a girl.

* * *

**Fifth Sin- Lust**

* * *

"Hmmm? What?"

One day, Zero decided to explore the mansion. She thought it was amazing what she could notice when she stops thinking about food.

Then, she ended up in Lussuria'a room. She found a magazine and opened it. She blinked. There were only pictures of men...

For some reason, Zero couldn't take her eyes away. She looked on with concentration. Her eyes went wider and wider. Was it possible for men to be... She paused and looked up from the magazine. What would be a good word to describe them? Nice? Good? ...pretty. She gave a small twitch but 'pretty' seemed to be a good word.

She went back to the magazine.

She had flipped through a few more pages before a shrill shriek echoed throughout the room. Calmly, Zero turned her head towards the direction of the scream to find Lussuria standing below the doorframe with his hands to the sides of his face.

Lussuria quickly ran over to Zero to grab the magazine out of her hands. With a panicked face he looked at the cover and then, relaxed when it wasn't what he thought it was.

He reminded himself to hide his other books better...

"At least it's only the flower boys' one..." he mumbled, causing Zero to tilt her head.

Flower boys?

Lussuria looked back at Zero. She was staring at the back photo.

"Pretty..." she said, as she concentrated on the boy/man's face.

Lussuria blinked. She liked this kind of stuff? ...oh wait. She's a girl.

Zero jumped up to grab the magazine and flipped through the pages once more as Lussuria stared into space, thinking.

After living with only men for awhile (not that he was complaining), he had to get used to the fact that Zero was and is and always will be a girl. She should be interested in the other gender... Of course, Bel wouldn't know anything about that since he himself is still a child. Squalo refuses to even be near Zero ever since the 'bed incident' and also the fact that she can't say his name. Xanxus lets her do whatever she wants and Levi just stands by Xanxus as much as he can (more so now, because he believes his 'position' in Xanxus' eyes is being taken away).

There was also the important fact that the members were all STRAIGHT--well, Lussuria couldn't be too sure about that, since he's NEVER seen any of them with a woman or a girl or anything female-- he was sure that they would turn little Zero lesbian if they ever decided to do what Lussuria was thinking of doing (not that they would ever do what he was thinking of doing...). It's not that Lussuria disliked the fact that Zero could be gay, but if she was...

He tried thinking of what would happen if she was older.

Lussuria stopped his thoughts there. What was he thinking? Before she could even start to imagine liking boys (or girls) she should know the differences, right? She's expelled from school, so she definitely can't learn anything from there.

Therefore, Lussuria should introduce Zero to the world of adults. That made sense right?

...yes. Lussuria is as insane as everyone else...and soon, Zero will be too.

...he also seemed to have forgotten that Zero, regardless of how old she really is, looks like, acts like, and pretty much is a four-year old.

* * *

Zero blinked.

What was he talking about?

"...so there's a net for girls and a...fish for boys. Yeah, boys have fish! Okay? So boys put their fish in the net and the net then..."

Zero blinked.

...girls have nets? ...boys have fish? ...can she eat it?

Zero then remembered back to when she saw Squalo without clothes. ...did he have a fish back then? How come she didn't see it? She wants to see fish...

Zero was starting to feel hungry again...

"...and that's how it goes for a girl and boy. But you could also do a girl and girl and a boy and boy...but then maybe you should..."

Zero blinked.

Fake fish for girls' nets? Bait? Worms? Fishing? Lussuria's talking about fishing?

Zero's brain was about to shut down in confusion. What was Lussuria talking about again? Something about girls and boys... Oh right. Girls have nets and boys have fish. Just remember that. Girls equal nets and boys equal fish...right? No wait. Maybe it was fish are boys and nets are girls. ...there are girl fish that goes to girl nets and boy fish that goes to boy nets?

Whuh?

"...understand?"

Zero blinked. Understand what?

Lussuria stared.

Zero blinked, again. What did he want?

Lussuria kept staring back.

...oh. He stopped talking. Zero should do something. She nodded, not knowing what she was agreeing too.

Lussuria smiled. "Okay! Now that's done, I think we spent a lot of time in this stuffy room. Let's go eat something! What do you want to eat?"

Zero's reply was instant.

"Fish."

Lussuria wondered if she really understood anything he said...

But seriously, who could understand from that kind of explanation?

* * *

"Prince," Zero said, with all the seriousness she could muster. She stared at him with her wide eyes, focusing and concentrating on his own eyes (or at least, where she thought his eyes were; his bangs were in the way).

"Hmmm? What?" asked Bel, not really caring for anything at the moment as he shuffled through the fridge for a pudding packet. He swears he saw at least one left yesterday...

Nevertheless, Zero continued, "I want your fish."

Bel stopped his rummaging. He stood up straight to lock eyes with Zero, who was sitting on the counter. He had to look up to meet her eyes, since his height was about countertop high. He stared at Zero for a few more seconds. Did she just say she wanted his fish? What did that mean?

"...what?"

When Zero skipped out of Lussuria's room and down the stairs for the kitchen, there, she met Bel who was also looking for a snack.

Zero repeated what she said once more.

"I want your fish."

Alright...so Bel wasn't hearing things. She actually said she wanted his fish. What fish? He didn't have a fish. Ah! There's his pudding! He stared at his pudding then at Zero.

...did she mean that she wanted his pudding? But that would weird...why would she ask for his fish if she knows what a pudding is? Did they even have fish?

Zero stared at him. She looked at his feet.

Could the fish be there?

Needless to say, Bel was a little more than a bit creeped out. What did she want from him? He doesn't have fish!

Zero hopped off the counter and started to stare at Bel's feet. She crouched down so she could see them better. Neither of them were wearing socks. She stares at his toes then turned to look at her own. They were both pretty much the same. Five toes on one feet, and five on the other... Okay, so no fish there.

Zero moved her eyes to his calves. She couldn't see them because his pants were in the way... She moved her head up to see Bel looking at her strangly.

"...what?" asked Bel. He was starting to be cautious. His smile disappeared a long time ago. ...seriously, did she actually say what he thought she said?

Zero opened her mouth to talk.

"Pants. Take off? Please?"

"...what for?"

"To find fish."

"...fish?"

"Boys have fish," said Zero with the seriousness that matched her face. She did look pretty serious. Could she be right? Bel blinked. He never heard that before. He didn't think he had a fish...right? Maybe this is what Lussuria meant when he needed to go to school...

"Girls have nets," continued Zero. "Lulu said fish goes into net and then...eat the fish?"

Bel kept his stare on her. That makes sense...kinda. He did want to know if he did have a fish or not...but fish need water right? Maybe boys have a different kind of fish? He's never seen a fish on him but maybe only other people can see it?

"Prince? Pants?" Zero looked at Bel with a small frown. She wanted the fish, darn it! Or at least see if boys do have fish... Squalo might have had a fish but she was thrown across his room and hit a wall before she could see anymore...

"...okay," answered Bel.

Reminder: Bel is eight. He's never had THE talk. It's not like anyone in the Varia would give him the talk. Lussuria kinda did for Zero but... Zero's an idiot; she can't understand metaphors.

Bel should've really thought things out and he might have reached a conclusion that made sense but the look on Zero's face was pretty convincing.

Therefore, he grabbed the waistband of his pants and...

* * *

Mammon stared.

Bel stared back.

Mammon looked at Zero.

Zero looked back.

Mammon wasn't sure if he should ask or completely destroyed the image of what he was seeing in front of him.

The three were in silence.

Mammon wanted food and like any normal person, he went to the kitchen through the dining room's entrance, only to find a pretty disturbing scene.

Zero was on top of a pant-less Bel.

Enough said.

Seriously, Mammon actually had no idea what he should do. Why of all people was it him that came upon this scene? This wasn't something he could do anything about. If it was Squalo, he would have screamed/yelled something along the lines of his usual 'VOOOII!!' and what the hell they were doing. If it was Levi, his eyes would have been wide and he would probably have froze in shock (kinda like what Mammon was doing). If it was Lussuria, he would have gone in panic mode and started talking about...the stuff he would usually talk about in a scene like this.

But they were kids.

And everyone knows that kids are stupid.

Stupid kids do stupid things and apparantly, this was one of them.

Mammon faintly recalled a commercial on T.V. about 'no glove, no love...'

He quickly erased that thought from his mind.

Mammon was broken out from his musings as Bel spoke.

"I don't think it's fair for only me to take my pants off." Bel soon ignored Mammon when all he did was stand in the doorway. Zero turned back to Bel and tilted her head, in a questioning manner.

Bel continued his explanation.

"Well, you want to see fish so I think I should see the net. You said girls have nets, right? I wanna see that."

Zero blinked but she slowly nodded her head in agreement. It was fair, right?

...the scary part about the entire situation was that neither Bel or Zero were joking around when they were saying this.

Mammon had to stop them. Nothing good will come at of this. It never will and--

...girls have nets?

Before anything else could happen, Lussuria walked in from the door that was connected to the common room, opposite of the one that Mammon had entered from.

Lussuria was much taller than the three who were already in the kitchen and didn't notice them. Bel and Zero were on the ground and Mammon was still shorter than both Bel and Zero even if they were sitting, so none of them were in the view of Lussuria. He hummed a nameless tune as he walked towards the fridge.

The reason why he wasn't able to follow after Zero when she left was because he was cleaning and hiding the magazines (coughPORNcough) in various crevices around his room.

He had no idea of the trouble he caused in the few minutes that Zero was out of his sight.

Before Lussuria could even reach the fridge, he slipped on something. Out of reflexes, he held his hands behind him and did a backflip. He landed right side up once more. He looked to see what he tripped on...

It was a pudding packet.

It was then he noticed the two children beside the pudding. Then, he saw Mammon a few metres away from the two.

Lussuria stared at all three of them, moving his gaze from Zero to Bel to Mammon and back to Zero.

Zero, Bel and Mammon just stared back.

Finally, it was Mammon who broke the silence.

"I have nothing to do with this."

And with that, he swiftly turned around and disappeared.

Zero blinked in confusion, Bel continued staring, and Lussuria just stood there, thinking of what to say to this situation.

Really. What does could he say?

But this was Lussuria, so Lussuria took a try.

"...Zero. Bel..." He stopped.

No really. What could he possibly to say to make this situation...somewhat less disturbing... How could he make this...better?

Then, he was able to get an idea.

"Zero, Bel... Let's go to the living room. I want to show you a movie..."

Believe it or not, if it was possible to make the current situation worse, Lussuria actually did it.

* * *

Bel's mouth was opened in shock.

Zero's eyes were the widest they've ever been.

And yet, they couldn't tear their eyes away.

The two stared at the people on the T.V. screen.

What were they doing? Was it possible for people to bend that way? How was that person doing that? That one is bleeding. Is she dying? There was rope and metal and leather and what was that? Was that a mask?--

...such questions filled the youngest (Zero was newly aged to be four; no one would believe them if they told anyone that she was forty-four) Varia members' heads.

**"VOOOOOOOOOOOOOIIIIII!!!!!! WHAT THE HELL?!?!"**

It was obvious who that was.

Lussuria simply turned and smiled. "Hmm? Hello there, Squ! Do you want a lesson as well?"

Squalo stared at the screen. He looked at Bel and Zero concentrating. Without thinking, he grabbed the remote that was besides Lussuria and pressed the power button, turning the T.V. screen off.

Almost mechanically, Squalo turned his head around to meet Lussuria's eyes (sunglasses). His eyes were blank like one's belonging to a dead fish. He stared at the martial artist as he processed what just happened.

"...were you just showing them--"

Squalo cut himself off. That was a stupid question.

Yes.

Lussuria was showing children--

Squalo shook his head and changed his question. He grabbed Lussuria by his shirt and pulled him slightly off the seat. With a menacing growl, he asked, "What the fuck are you thinking?! If that stupid boss finds out about this--"

"I have a perfectly good explaination!" interrupted Lussuria. He shook himself out of Squalo's grasp. He turned to look at the two children; their attention were now on the older of the quartet. Lussuria sighed dramatically and put a hand over his heart. "I was teaching them about life!"

That was when Squalo started shaking him.

"THROUGH **PORN?! **WHAT THE HELL IS THAT EVEN SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!"

Squalo freezed. Was it just him or did the room become colder? He heard a small click behind him. Slowly, he turned to see red eyes, blazing in fury.

"..."

Neither Lussuria nor Squalo could ever make what they said sound right.

"...**what did you say?**"

Then, the youngest of the five people in the room turned towards the voice.

...look...it's him...that man who's thinking of replacing two Varia members, nevermind that Squalo really had nothing to do with this.

Zero was the first to speak out.

"Xanxus!"

She pushed herself off the chair and ran forward to give him her usual greeting. Once she reached him, she wrapped her arms around one of his legs and stayed there, rubbing her face against the fabric. "Xanxus, Xanxus, Xanxus, Xanxus..."

Bel continued staring at the scene before him. He was still processing the images he saw on the screen when Squalo turned it off. He was a genius. It didn't take him long to figure out what happened and what the wrong and right was.

Bel let out a shudder as he realized what he and Zero would've done if it wasn't for Luss-- ...wait... Who was the one who told Zero about 'fish' and 'nets' in the first place? He had a sinking suspicion it was the gay assassin--

"UUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHH!!!!"

Bel blinked away his thoughts to see the previous scene change into a new one.

There was Zero attached to their boss' leg while his other one was beating up Lussuria. Squalo was farther away on the floor, motionless. He seemed to have been thrown across the room.

Lussuria let out a few screams as Xanxus kept kicking him down every time he tried getting up. Zero either didn't care or didn't realize what was going on because she had her eyes closed and kept on smiling (but Bel bet that it was the latter).

Bel stared for a couple of minutes.

A grumble came from his stomach.

Ah! That's right. He never did get to eat his pudding.

Bel jumped off the couch and headed for the kitchen, not noticing Lussuria's arm reaching out for the small prince in desperation.

* * *

**Next Sin: Wrath**

* * *

A/N- ...sorry this chapter is way shorter than the last one but...seriously, how would you continue on from that... More than anything, I'm pretty disturbed that I typed this up.

Sorry I lied about hoping this chapter would have been better than the last one. ...well, this chapter is LUST. ...(twitch) What did you think would happen?! ...I am such a pervert...

...anyway, please read Xanxus' chapter next!


	6. Sixth Sin: Wrath

Disclaimer- I only own Zero.

* * *

_"Xanxus... Come here. I want to show you something?"_

_"What?" A younger Xanxus glared at his surroundings. Why were they here? What was this place anyway...? They were pretty far from the Vongola base..._

_"Look at this." The older man beckoned the boy over. It was a container. A rather big container that could probably hold a man in it..._

_"So what?" Xanxus looked on bored. He was starting to get annoyed... He looked around for windows to jump out of._

_"This is a secret from other members, understand?" _

_"Whatever." Why were there no windows here? Who designed this shitty building?_

_Timoteo pulled on the plastic cover of the container. "Look."_

_With a tired sigh, Xanxus turned to do as he was told. His eyes adjusted to the murky waters and slowly recognized a figure. He stepped closer towards it. There was something in there... __He placed on the glass and rubbed him of the dust away._

_"What is it?"_

_Once the dust was cleared, a pair of glowing eyes stared straight into Xanxus' own pair._

_"Xanxus, this is Zero..."_

* * *

**Sixth Sin- Wrath**

* * *

Xanxus was never angry at Zero for anything. The closest he was to angry in front of her was annoyance and all he did was glare and by then, she was smart enough to know when to leave.

Levi called it favoritism and eventually, the rest of the Varia thought the same.

But Zero thought different.

She wasn't stupid. As she grew older with the Varia, she realized many things. She can easily see the changes in one's mood. A slight twitch of the mouth or a small fidget from a finger cannot go undetected through her eyes. She can see everything. She sees the Varia for what they are. She sees Xanxus for what he is.

He had eyes that were indifferent to everything around him, like hers but they were still so different from hers. His eyes showed rage, annoyance, amusement, confusion, and other emotions. Emotions that Zero couldn't tell.

But she knew it wasn't favoritism.

Zero stared at Xanxus' sleeping face. She had her own room but she's never entered it. She didn't even know where it was. Either way, she liked being with Xanxus whenever she was given the chance.

She's been with the Varia for seven months. Zero realized a lot of things had the number seven. Including herself, there were seven Varia members. Seven o'clock was when she woke up. Seven was the number of times she needed to clean the Prince's knives to make them sparkling. She was able to take Fantasma from Mammon seven times before Mammon noticed and each time she was under his illusions for seven minutes.

They were subordinates. The people who served under him, the boss. She wasn't an underling. She was a possession.

Zero blinked as Xanxus stirred.

This was the seventh time she woke up before Xanxus.

Zero was... Xanxus'. She knew that. He knew that. He was the one to have decided that. Xanxus was...everything. He was her owner. Could a puppet continue to work on it's own without a puppeteer? Zero was the puppet and Xanxus was the one controlling the strings.

Xanxus... Xanxus, Xanxus, Xanxus, Xanxus, Xanxus...

The seventh time she met Xanxus was the day when her liquid-filled prison broke and released her. Her eyes became glazed over as she remembered...

She was surrounded by nothing. Empty. Scared. And yet, relieved. So very relieved.

No more staring that ended with pain. No more sharp objects penetrating her skin. No more attaching her to computers. No more near-death experiences due to drugs.

Her reflections scared her.

She couldn't handle them.

That the girl in the mirror, in the cups, in the water, in the glass, in the machinery, in everything, was her.

A bruise under her eye with another one matching it on the corner of her lips. She couldn't remember whether it was there from a side-effect of a medicine or the wrong chemicals mixed together.

She was always hungry.

She hated being hungry.

She couldn't stand being surrounded by her own face.

So she destroyed it all.

The cylinder that kept her prisoner was gone first, of course. She hated that more than being hungry, which was a lot for Zero. She smashed everything without moving from her spot. She threw whatever she had near.

Some objects were sharp enough to cut through her fingers but she never noticed them. Some of the objects she threw shattered and reflected back to her head, causing cuts and blood to flow.

There she was, in the middle of the room, staring into space with a blank look on her face. Everything gone.

She learned an important lesson that day.

Anything could be gone so very quickly.

Xanxus was the same.

* * *

He wasn't going to be the heir. He wasn't going to succeed him. He wasn't going to have the Vongola. He wasn't his real son. He wasn't related to him at all.

Xanxus punched his desk and broke it in half.

What was the point of him being raised as the Ninth's son when he wasn't going to inherit the Vongola?! That senile old fart never had the intention of naming him the heir!!

"Damn you, old man... You'll pay for this..." Just the thought of it made his blood boil.

What has he ever given him?! There was nothing he could call his and only his! What--

"...Xanxus?"

He whipped his head to see Zero standing beneath the doorway. She had her usual face on. Calm but eery.

...the Ninth didn't even give him Zero...

Zero walked forward until she was within his reach.

"Xanxus?"

Xanxus continued to stare at her with eyes of greed.

She was his. It didn't matter what anyone thought. She was his, damn it! That old man refused to give her to him. Of course he wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. If Xanxus wanted something, then by damn, he'll fucking get it. If he had to steal it, then, he would steal it. If he had to kill over it, then, hell fucking yes, he'll cause a massacre over it.

Xanxus grabbed Zero by the waist and placed her on one half of the broken desk. She reached his shoulder from that height but it was better than her being on the ground.

Zero tilted her head.

"...Xanxus?"

He bent down enough to lock eyes with her. He placed a hand over her head and forced her to look into his eyes.

"You're mine, you got that?!"

Zero looked at him with glazed eyes. She could tell he was up--angr--betra--possess-- ...Zero couldn't put a word to how he was feeling. It wasn't a good feeling though. Zero didn't like when Xanxus was...upset. She placed her own hands on top of the hand that Xanxus placed over her head.

Zero blinked.

"Xanxus..." She smiled up at him.

"Ehe..." Zero took his hand off her head and placed it on her cheek. Zero really liked Xanxus. He still had a look of fury on his face. He didn't seem satisfied with her answer...

She made a silent vow. As long as he needed her, she would never leave him. She promised to only follow him...at least until she broke...

Xanxus stayed still as most of his anger washed away but still, he wasn't going to give up the title of being the Tenth... He who was named Xanxus with the double X. He was born to be the Tenth boss!!

He narrowed his eyes. Zero couldn't be involved in this...she would be taken away... Regardless of who she belonged to.

* * *

Squalo left Xanxus' office after a report of his mission. He stared silently to the ground.

"So, it's going to start," he mumbled and rubbed his head in exasperation.

Zero tilted her head up to Squalo's. "Start?" What, what?

Squalo jumped in surprise. Where the hell she come from? Ah, whatever... This makes it easier for him...

The two were alone in the hallway. Actually, this was the first time the two were alone since back when Zero entered Squalo's room and pulled his--

"Get ready," growled Squalo. He didn't want to do this but Xanxus was planning this for awhile.

No one else was around. No one but the boss, Squalo, and Zero. Everyone else disappeared out of the castle. Where they went, Zero wasn't sure. There was a lot of hush-hush stuff going on but she wasn't able to piece together all the information. Something about tenth, ninth, clams and secrets... Hmmm...Zero was hungry...she wanted clams...

Suddenly, Squalo straightened up and walked away. "Let's go."

Zero blinked. Go? Where? She followed, anyway.

Squalo walked a few metres down the hall and stopped. He led her to a wall.

Zero blinked. ...now what?

Squalo stared at the wall. He placed his hands over it and pushed against it. He let out a grunt as he pressed against it. Zero blinked. The wall was moving! When Squalo stopped, the wall looked like a revolving door.

Squalo turned to Zero. He motioned for her to get inside.

Zero blinked. ...her? In there? In that dark space? In that dark little...room? What was that anyway?

Annoyed, Squalo grabbed her shoulders and pushed her in.

Zero let out a yelp as she was pushed into the dark room. She turned around to see Squalo staring at her with no expression on his face.

"Stay in there until me or...Xanxus gets you. Understand? You'll be fine in there for awhile..."

Before Zero could ask what was going on, Squalo closed the 'door.'

Her eyes turned red. Zero blinked. There was a light switch beside her but she didn't notice. Not like it mattered... She had night-vision.

She looked around the room in a daze but before she could explore, she turned around to the wall/door that trapped her in. She blinked and placed her hands against it. She tried to do what Squalo did and pushed against it.

It didn't work.

Mammon mentioned a lot of times that she was really weak... Zero looked up, thinking that maybe there was a hole or something. Nothing. She blinked and crouched down, dragging her hands down the wall. She stared at it with indifference. She was slightly...confused? Sad? ...she didn't know but she didn't feel good.

Why was she here? In this dark room? Alone?

...

Her eyes grew wider as she remembered the times back before being with the Varia.

She was there again... Alone. In a dark room. Trapped. The smell of burning and medicine clouded her memories along with her senses. She started to breathe every breath as if it was her last.

Zero scratched at the wall.

No. No. No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

She refused to be here. She couldn't stand being alone. Someone had to come back. Someone come back. Someone come back!

"Someone..." she choked out. "Come back! Please... Come back..."

Tears formed and started to sting. She remembered what Bel told her:

_"Don't cry. Tears are pretty much salty water and if you cry, you're electrocuting yourself since you have mechanical eyes..."_

She had blinked a few times. Her eyes felt like they were burning. It really hurt... She almost cried a couple of times before... but it was never able to get that far because someone always came and gave her food to keep her happy.

She stopped clawing at the wall. She stopped her tears. She stopped her panicking.

Xanxus, she thought. Xanxus.

"Xanxus..."

He was there. He wouldn't abandon her.

Squea--Squalo said that she would be fine in here! She would be fine...

She slowly closed her eyes.

Squ-Squea-Squalo said she would be fine... She would be fine...

* * *

"VOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOIIIIII!!! OUT OF THE WAY!"

Squalo ran full speed away, as he cut down the opposing force. Everytime he cut one down, another took the fallen comrade's place.

The Varia members all went their seperate ways, to different sections of the main Vongola base.

Usually, they never agree on anything but when Xanxus held a meeting for them all and told them of his plan, everyone had uneasy thoughts about it. But Xanxus was their boss and their loyalty towards him unwavered. They did as they were told.

Xanxus went up ahead with the rest of the Varia covering his back. They split up when Xanxus said to get rid of anyway coming near the main hall.

That was five hours ago.

Squalo started to grow anxious. What was taking so long? Squalo charged through and pressed the communicator attached to his ear.

"VVOOOIII! MAMMON! TAKE CONTROL OF THE EAST SIDE!! I'M GOING AFTER THE BOSS!!"

A word of confirmation was given back and also, a reply from everyone to keep his voice down.

* * *

Zero didn't leave her spot near the wall for... Zero didn't know how long it's been. She was really hungry but she held it in which took a lot out of her.

She repeated the words like it would protect her. For all she knew, it was the only thing keeping her sane.

"Fine...I'm fine. Fine...I'm fine. Sq-Squalo said fine... I'm fine. Fine... Fine...I'm fine... Squalo said so..."

Images from the past flashed through her head.

The white coats were always in them of course. They all looked the same to her. Always smiling, always wearing a mask... Hiding their intentions behind curtains. They gave her legs first. It hurt but she couldn't do anything about them. So many parts were torn up and reattached. The eyes were the worse though. She couldn't remember what was used but something sharp... Stabbed through her head to attach a piece of metal into--

Zero started to shudder. The pain was unbearable. She wanted to die... but she didn't. She wanted to but didn't. Why should she die? They should die. _They_ should **die**. She did nothing and they were killing her.

It was hard but she survived through it all. It didn't matter who or what it was but she wouldn't die by their hands. She refused to die. So many times, she was on the verge but then she asked herself why. Why should she go before them? Why should she go through this? If she died, no on would remember her... It would have been as if she never existed...

And her eyes were done.

The first thing she saw was white.

A colour that isn't a colour. Nothing, blank, empty.

She hated white.

White as the coats, white as the gloves, white as the tube shoved down her throat, white as the paper they wrote on, white as the clothes they gave her...

Zero stopped shuddering. She stopped moving.

She stood up.

"Not here now..." she mumbled. "Gone...all gone..."

Bel mentioned something about it...

_"My mission was a paaaain. The guy ran away really faaaar. I had to go after him. You should be thankful, Zero. I killed one of the scientists..."_

Levi too...

_"There was someone with too much information. He's gone now..."_

Zero closed her eyes as she remembered Xanxus...

_"That's the last of them... Zero, come here. With this, no one will have anything against you."_

Is that what he meant? The people in white? The last of them... Have something against her? Did she do something? She was living... Was being alive a bad thing?

She looked around the room. A bed, a desk, The Fridge (she respected The Fridge), a drawer, a bookshelf and another door leading to a different room. Looked like a normal bedroom. Stationary. Lifeless. Empty. Blank... Just like white. She hated white. It reminded her too much of herself...

She felt alone.

So very alone.

She looked across the room with a 'white' stare.

"...Xanxus..." Why did she feel like something was out of place?

* * *

Shit... He was struck before he could help Xanxus...

Bodies littered the ground and Squalo was behind a pillar that was between his boss and the Ninth. Everything was in a mass of panic. He looked over at Xanxus and could tell he was worn out. The Ninth held up his weapon.

Xanxus panted as he smirked and spat out his words... Squalo had to squint every so often to regain his vision... He clutched his bleeding side and breathed heavily.

A yell was heard. A yell belonging to Xanxus.

Before Squalo could even get up, he already knew it was over. Everything failed... The others were knocked out just like he was. Tch...the Vongola's called the leader of the mafia for a reason...

He could feel himself get carried away... He didn't care to know who it was, instead he turned his head to see what happened to Xanxus...

Squalo couldn't even open his eyes wide enough to show his shock.

There he was, in all his fury, frozen in ice...

* * *

Zero tumbled down as the wall pushed against her.

She was sitting beside the wall once more when the feeling clawing it's way up her throat wouldn't go away. Something happened. Something happened to Xanxus. She needed to get out.

That was when the wall moved.

Zero lept to her feet.

"Xan--"

She froze.

This wasn't Xanxus. This wasn't even Squalo. But it was a familiar face. An older face with tiredness etched on his face. He looked at Zero with a look of...disappointment?

"...as I thought. You were with Xanxus..."

Zero didn't even pay attention to the man's words.

Xanxus wasn't here. Something really did happen. This man... She's seen him before. Many times before. Before Varia. Before Xanxus.

"Zero..."

She continued her staring with eyes wide. What happened? What should she do? What can she do? Squalo said he would pick her up or Xanxus would. Neither are here.

What happened?

"Zero," the man repeated. "Please come with me."

Slowly and shakily, Zero shook her head. Why? What happened?

What happened? What happened?

Instead she softly said, "Xanxus."

The man's face turned downwards. He was...saddened. Why?

What. Happened.

"...come with me," he said, quietly but loud enough for her to hear. "I'll...show you to Xanxus." He held out a hand for her.

Xanxus... She had to go. Xanxus would be there. If he was there, it would be fine, right?

Why was her heart thumping so loudly? Why was she so nervous? It felt like...she knew what happened and yet, she didn't... She kept asking that question to herself.

What happened...

Zero placed her hand over familiar stranger's.

* * *

When the two arrived at their destination, it took less than a minute for a scream to break out through the night.

And with that, the Cradle affair ended.

* * *

**Next Sin - Pride**


	7. Seventh Sin: Pride

* * *

Disclaimer- I only own Zero.

* * *

"What should we do with them?"

"Isn't it obvious?! We should kill them already! They're a threat to the Vongola!!"

"But they are a part of the Vongola, are they not?"

"It was a betrayal; who knows if they'll do it again!?"

"Exactly. They might not..."

"Iemitsu! Why do you keep defending them?!"

"They're already too dangerous! The Varia should be wiped out! They already killed too many of our own men!!"

"They're the best assassin team we have. Without them, we will become weaker..."

The Varia members were in the middle of a dark room, tied up and unable to move. Their punishment was to be decided. None of them spoke a word. Anything they said could be used against them. Tch... Might as well hand them over to the Vendicare...

A clear voice broke through the arguing.

"Nothing will happen to them."

All turned towards the voice.

Squalo recognized the face and the voice. Of course, they all knew who the Ninth was but Squalo would definitely never forget the man who defeated his boss.

For the Varia, they only had one boss and it wasn't the current boss of the Vongola.

"Xanxus...has already been taken care of," said the Ninth. His face showing no hint of emotions. He turned to face Squalo. He looked at him with a look that was similar to pity.

The Varia members, other than Squalo, looked confused. What did he mean by 'taken care of?'

Squalo wanted to tear the old man's face off. No one gives him pity. He didn't fucking want it. He had too much pride for that... Pride that was severely receiving a beating...

Timoteo looked at the rest of the broken squad. Their boss is out of commission...for who knows how long. Iemitsu told him to save Xanxus...but he couldn't. Xanxus was truly too much of a threat. He knew that the Varia only gave their loyalty towards Xanxus...

"They will continue their work," he continued. "But their pay will be given directly towards the damages received by them. Also, let this affair be under wraps. No one outside this room shall know of this."

"They can't possibly be left alone! They need--"

"The Varia will have their base moved closer to the main Vongola base. They will stay there until they have proven themselves that they are trustworthy."

"B-but! Vongola Nono--"

"That is all."

The meeting was over.

While everyone left, Squalo stayed behind. He looked at the empty seat belonging to the Vongola's boss. He made a vow to Xanxus that he will help him achieve that spot.

"Superbia Squalo."

Squalo turned around to see the Ninth still standing behind him. He gave no reply.

"Follow me."

Squalo glared but he was in no position to argue, especially towards the man who saved the Varia. He walked after him.

Some punishment... No pay for a long time and no boss... It wasn't that big of a punishment... Xanxus was still alive under all that ice and Squalo swore that he will get out once more and--

"Zero."

Eh? Zero?

Squalo forgot about her.

The two were at the...the room where Xanxus was...

And there was Zero. Right beside the frozen Xanxus. Her back facing them with her hands on the ice.

She looked so small.

Squalo stood still, watching.

She made no sounds. She just stood there. Still.

Squalo realized that he was alone with her. The Ninth left when he wasn't paying attention. He cursed himself for being put off-guard. He was an assassin; he couldn't make small mistakes like--

"Squalo."

--like just now.

Squalo was startled. That was Zero speaking.

Zero turned around with her usual, blank face but this one was all too familiar. She looked exactly the same as when Squalo first saw her.

The surroundings were pretty similar too. The broken glass, the destroyed furniture, the blood spilt, Xanxus being there...

Squalo moved his right foot and took a step. She kept staring at him with those lifeless eyes. He willed himself to walk towards her.

When he was in front of her, he asked himself if she was always this small...

Zero didn't say anything else.

Squalo crouched down, near to her face, staring at her back. Zero blinked slowly. Zero thought to herself... What could she do now? If the puppeteer is gone, what's the point for a puppet? If the artist is dead, his pencil is useless. What happens when the toy is fine but the child breaks?

Squalo stayed still, just like Zero. He, in a way, understood what Zero was thinking. He was supposed to be the Varia's boss. He was second-in-command. Whether he wants to or not, he had to care of his subordinates. He didn't have to care about them but...

"...Zero," he started and stopped. He couldn't say it with words. He saw Xanxus do it to Zero a couple of times... He lifted up his right arm and placed his hand on the top of her head.

"I'll...take care of you."

_At least until Xanxus comes back..._

If a player is gone, a substitute fills in...

* * *

**Seventh Sin- Pride **

* * *

The Varia base was silent.

They weren't in mourning. Well, maybe Levi was, but the rest sure as hell weren't.

Xanxus would come back. Afterall, this is their boss; he wasn't a good-for-nothing.

They weren't surprised when Squalo was put in charge of the Varia.

They were surprised when Zero was officially made into a Varia member by order of the Ninth.

Before, she was just there with the Varia. She was considered a member but by that, they meant she was kinda like their mascot.

The cute, little critter that hops around munching on food and advertises who they are to each other (if that makes sense).

Since Zero had good 'legs' they would have to work with that. Lussuria would have been able to help her with that but out of all of them, Squalo was the best choice. He was perceptive and Zero was the same. Squalo was just better at training others than the rest of them.

Zero was able to memorize a lot of things and copy movements at first glance. Her eyes were so sharp that she was able to tell what her opponent's movement would be from a slight twitch.

Unfortunately, just because she was able to see, didn't mean she was able to react.

Squalo spared no mercy.

Her legs were broken a couple of times and she had to get them fixed (which was really annoying) and the only thing good that came out of that whole affair was that Gianichi (the weapons tuner) was able to make her legs lighter. Then, this turned out to be really annoying for Squalo because before, she was always able to disappear when someone just turned away for a second and now that she's faster, she was gone in a blink of an eye.

It surprised Squalo how well she was taking everything. She didn't cry or ask for help or anything like that. She acted...normal. Normal for her, anyway. She was eating normally. She was as fine as she was before.

It kind of worried the others.

The Varia all followed one leader and that was because that respected him. They all felt something close to admiration for the boss. But he wasn't with them anymore. It hit them all pretty deeply. Afterall, the man they chose to follow was gone and with that, what could they do? The man named--

"Squ."

Squalo blinked in surprise to see Zero's face just above his own. He was lying on the couch and Zero was standing behind where his head laid on the arm rest. She never did call him 'Squalo' again. She only called him 'Squ' now, like Lussuria.

Prince, Mammon, Lulu, Levi, Squ and.........

All the names she used were two syllables or less. 'Squalo' was two syllables. Why couldn't she just say that? She told him that 'Squ' is shorter and it doesn't sound as weird as if 'Mammon' was shortened; he would be called 'Ma' or 'Mam,' and that's just weird. 'Lulu' would just be 'Lu' and that's not cool, either.

At least it wasn't Squeaky.

"What do you want?"

Zero blinked and tilted her head. Hmmm...what did she want again? Food? Well, she always wanted food but that's not what she came to Squalo for... Now, what was it?

"Hey Squalo. Do we hand the mission report over to you now?" asked Bel.

Squalo blinked. What the hell? When did he get here?

Bel was leaning against the doorway with the paper in his hand.

Zero blinked. Ah, that's right. Mission report... She reached into her sweater pocket. The sweater was like a dress to her since it belonged to Levi. He told her it was too small for him so he gave it to her. Of course, on her the sleeves dragged along the ground and she had to watch where she stepped or she would trip. There was a pocket big enough to stuff whatever she wanted, which was the reason she took it in the first place. She wore shorts underneath but regretted it because it just made her body temperature rise.

Now... Zero thought. Where was it? She shuffled through her pockets. Levi also handed her his latest mission report but he left again to take another one. Being busy made him think less about...unpleasant thoughts.

Zero paused.

...maybe she should go on missions too... Was she allowed to? Nowadays, all she did was eat, sleep, and play kill-the-other-before-he-kills-you games (or at least until one becomes unconcious) with Squalo. Ah, but sleeping makes her think too much. Just before she goes to sleep, she always think. Think about why she's still alive. What happen if she didn't exist. If she was killed before any of them, what happens. She thought of possibilities.

If she goes on missions, would she die? Would someone kill her before she killed them? She still didn't understand the concept of being killed. The person you kill doesn't move anymore, right? Never to breath, never to play, never to eat... Why? What makes people move? Nerves, muscles, brain waves...she knows all that (because Squalo forced her to read all sorts of books) but what makes people move? What makes them die? If she gathered everything needed to make a human, it still wouldn't move, right? What makes people move? What makes people feel?

What causes emotions?

What makes memories? How does it make memories? How do you get rid of them? Make them useless? How do you do that? She wanted to go back to the beginning...

"Voi. What do you want?"

Zero blinked. Squalo stared at her from his same previous position, only this time, he held a sheet of paper in his hand. The same paper that Bel held. She turned to the doorway to find the little Prince gone. Zero turned her head back to Squalo but found something white on the ground. Another sheet of paper.

Zero crouched down low to pick it up and examine it.

Ah... This was Levi's report. Zero stood up to face Squalo once more.

All he did was stare at her. Zero blinked. Normally, he would have blasted into her ear about wasting his time. She noticed that he wasn't really mean to her anymore. Before, he would throw her to the wall, out the window or cut her up. He still does that when the play kill-the-other-before-he-kills-you games but that's because it's the kill-the-other-before-he-kills-you game.

She didn't like it.

She wanted the loud, mean, sadistic Squ back. She liked the loud, mean, hot-headed, sadistic Squ with the toothpaste personality (nevermind what a toothpaste personality actually is).

Maybe...he's tired? She felt tired all the time, too.

Zero handed the report over to Squalo.

She just...felt tired... She didn't know how to explain this feeling. She was sad but not sad. She filled her head with stupid questions that made her head hurt more than it should have just to avoid thinking about--

"Is this it?" asked Squalo, flipping over the sheet. "This is Levi's, right? That guy writes these like an essay... Only Bel writes one page reports..." He already knew the reason why Levi wrote so little. It was the same reason that Lussuria was less chipper. The reason that Levi preferred going on more missions. The reason why Bel disappears more often. Why Mammon walks more than spends his energy floating. Why Squalo felt more and more pressured.

This was mentioned before but it was emphasized throughout the Varia. They all hated each other and would rather kill one another than agree on anything but they all had something their loyalty in common. Their loyalty towards--

"Squalo!" cried out Zero.

Squalo blinked. His thoughts were cut off completely because of Zero. Her eyes were wide, not her usual blank eyes wide, but panicked wide. She also said his full name... He was surprised but he shouldn't have been. She says his name when she's serious, huh?

His previous thoughts about her handling everything fine was wrong. It wasn't fine.

The scream he heard hours after the...the incident with the Tenth. The sounds he hears at night, similar to the scream but muffled. The stares she gives to inanimate objects. Stares that say she's not all there at the moment. Just like before. She was silent the entire time when Bel came in and handed his report to Squalo. She just stared at fireplace across from her.

Trying to get away from reality. Trying to stop herself from saying, thinking about Xan--

Zero gripped onto Squalo's shoulders as she shook her head.

Squalo calmly stared.

So this is what she looks like when she's losing it? Did she ever have it? Xanxus was the temporary 'it...' 'It' being her sanity...

Her breathing became shallow and she started to shudder.

She kept thinking. Thinking about anything. Anything to stop her from thinking about--

Zero let go of Squalo and smashed her hands against her head. Stop it. Stop it. STOP IT! GET OUT! GET OUT!!

Squalo grabbed hold of her arms and lifted her up. It was easier to carry her now. He moved from lying down to sitting on the couch. He placed Zero on his lap.

"Zero," he said. She stopped and looked at Squalo, with her wider than normal eyes. He didn't notice before since, nowadays, he didn't bring her too close to him but there were faint outlines all over her face. Fading bruises...

When he first saw her, she had dark purple splotches everywhere. Before they had the maids around, Squalo had to give her a bath. It was annoying, painful and in the end, he was always ankle deep in water along with her. Major noticable thing about her was that the bruises were literally everywhere.

Looking at her now, he realized her previous bruises... He thought that they were a side effect to chemicals, and some of them might have been, but they were also self-inflicted.

With...Xanxus, she stopped the self-inflictions. She had a reason to continue living, right? Before, she was just surviving. Just 'cause she survived, didn't mean she lived. Living in a tube, doesn't count as living... Mammon said something like that. It's just surviving...

For the Varia, whether it was living or killing, surviving or dying, there was a clear difference. For Zero, it didn't matter. She wanted to know if she was alive. She belonged to Xanxus. She knew she was real because she was Xanxus'. Xanxus lived so therefore, she was alive.

But he's not here now.

A toy can't live without a child.

Zero blinked and blinked and blinked again. Her eyes started hurting. Pain means she's alive. She's feeling. She's real. Squalo was holding her arms. She could feel Squalo. She was alive.

Her vision blurred and her eyes started to sting.

"Uuuuu..." she whimpered and looked down at his lap. She fell forward and leaned on his chest. She was tired... Just tired... Tired of... What was she tired of?

Squalo did nothing. What could he do? He couldn't really tell her to cheer up because he would be a hypocrite if he said that and he wasn't one to help anyone except himself. If she wanted to be sad, she should be sad. If she wanted to scream, she should scream. If she wanted to live, she should live.

If she wanted to die...well, Xanxus wasn't here right now, was he? It was her life now. Squalo wasn't going to help her live it; he had his own damn life to worry about. He said he would take care of her.

Take care of her. That could've meant anything. Take care as in, leaving her harmless, but he already broke her legs a couple of times, so that definitely wasn't it. Take care of her as in...take care of her.

Squalo would just...go along with what she wanted and stop at a certain point. He would...supervise her. Something like that.

"...let's go on mission," he said, as he continued holding up her arms. He was able to tell that she wasn't sleeping just yet; only leaning on him. "A mission for you," he continued. "All for you... I'll watch it over."

* * *

It was an easy one.

Well, easy as in easy for those of Varia quality.

Still, Zero should be able to do it. The only problem was how she would handle it. She's never killed before.

Squalo wasn't sure if she even knew what 'kill' meant.

A simple assassination. Someone was giving outside mafia families tips on the Vongola. The mission was to find and kill him.

Simple.

It just had to be quick and effective. Like a breeze flew by and the victim fell dead right away.

Simple.

Squalo growled. He was pretty much doing the mission for her. He found the traitor for her. He found the man's next appointment for her. He found out the perfect time for her to get it over with. He was not going to kill him for her.

...he said he wasn't going to find him for but he did anyway...

Lussuria always goes on about spoiling Zero too much... Squalo thought that she really was spoiled.

"Squ...Squ...Squ..." said Zero as she tugged on his sleeve. The two were on the roof of a cafe. The man that she was supposed to kill just left the building and headed towards a shaded area.

"What?"

Zero blinked. What was it again? What did she need... Something about the situation. She needed to ask something about what she was about to do now. What was it she was supposed to do now and needed to ask a question about it? The thing that she needs to do now and now she needs the answer to the question that she needs now for the current situation? It was something to do with something with her doing something to someone and ending off with that someone being something. Someone being that that man walking out of that building... Oh wait! That's right! She wanted to ask--

Yeah, like Squalo could wait that long for to speak.

**"DON'T FUCKING CALL MY NAME AND THEN FORGET WHAT THE FUCK YOU WANTED!!"**

Squalo clamped his own mouth. ...shit. Why the hell did he do that? It was probably 'cause he wasn't able to yell or anything for awhile. He's held it in for a long time. It always pissed him off when she started to say something then blanked out. Why?! WHY, DAMN IT, WHY?! SHE'S FUCKING DOING THIS ON PURPOSE, ISN'T SHE?! AND NOT ONLY THAT--

Squalo pushed Zero's head down and quickly looked around to see if anyone spotted them. A few looked up in confusion but left it as that. Squalo sighed. Stupid people have their uses too... Thank you stupid people and your stupid senses...

But wait! Their, no, HER target! Where the hell did he go?

With his sharp eyes, Squalo quickly spotted him just outside a tavern. Whew. A few seconds less and he would have lost him.

...hmm? Squalo felt like his hand wasn't pushing against anything. He turned to see that Zero was...

Down there.

Down there as in _down there. _

How the hell did she get down there so fast?! Squalo was still on the rooftop, while Zero hid behind wall on the streets below him. Squalo sighed. Whatever. At least he could do what he was supposed to do now. Supervise. What is she gonna do now--

DAMN IT!!

Her target was in the tavern now. Zero did her strange movements and followed after him. By strange, Squalo meant something he couldn't do. She always did that movement when he was...ah...training her. She would run/walk/charge after him with wobbly movements. That was pretty much it. Wobbly. She would sway side to side as if she lost all energy but she was super fast when she moved like that.

Looking at it from above, Squalo was able to tell why she was doing that now. She gave as little energy as she could to the rest of her body, just enough for her to stand straight, and concentrated on her legs, increasing their speed. Ah, but doing that made her easier to hit. Sure, he could never hit her legs, but he was always able to strike her arms or waist. She had slow reaction time with her upper body--

DAMN IT!!

That brat went inside the tavern too!

Squalo quickly went on the move. He pulled himself over the edge of the roof and flipped over to land safely to the ground with a soft thud. He ran over to the tavern's door. His hand was on the handle. There's no way that stupid girl could--

There, in the middle of the tavern, Zero was kissing another boy.

Squalo stared with an emotionless face. He closed the door.

A few seconds later, he opened it again, only to see the same scene.

Zero had her hands on the boy's cheeks. She was standing while the youth was on his knees. She had her eyes closed but the boy's was half-opened. His gaze was hazed over.

With a small 'plop', Zero pulled the boy's face away and let go. The boy dropped with a hollow thud. She placed a foot over the boy's back.

In a blink of an eye, a squelch and a crunch was heard and her foot dug and went through the boy's back.

Squalo looked around to find that the place was empty. There were only bodies on the ground. Four in total, including the boy's. Blood covered the floors, creating puddles. All had a hole somewhere on their person. A hole the same size as Zero's foot.

It was a messy job and involved way more people than necessary but it's not like anyone would scold her for killing one too many people. The rest of the Varia usually went overboard too.

Squalo was...not exactly impressed but he's wasn't unimpressed either. He was a bit...shocked. He entered the tavern about a few minutes after she entered and everyone was killed. Well, except the boy but she just killed him now.

Zero was crouching on the ground with her fingers in the gaping hole that she made on the boy. She was looking for something. Snaps and crunches were the only sounds that Squalo was able to hear. Her back was to him so he could see what she was doing.

Squalo took a couple of steps before Zero turned around with her bloody hands. She was holding something.

"Look! A bone!"

It was a rib bone.

Squalo blinked. So what?

Zero looked at the bone with something close of...adoration? ...HE. DIDN'T. WANT. TO. KNOW.

Zero held the bone up close to her sweater and wiped off the blood as much as she could. She blinked. The bone was so clean... A clean white... Specks of blood were attached but it was clean...and sharp. She soon threw the rib away and turned back to the body. What else could she find?

She soon found herself being lifted off the ground. Zero blinked and turned her head to see Squalo had a hold of her.

"Let's go home," he said, tirely. He couldn't be with her for too long... It was like she sucked his energy.

...Squalo was...kinda, maybe, probably, impressed. It was her first mission and even though he did about ninety-five percent about the job, she was still able to get the target and erase any witnesses. Luckily, there were no stupid people on the streets to see the two enter the tavern. He would had have to kill them since they would have been considered witnesses.

Squalo soon found that dragging her was annoying. He lifted her higher up and placed her on his head. Zero was licking the blood off her hands, ignoring her surroundings. That boy's blood...

"Doesn't that taste weird?" he asked. She paused from her...'eating' and smiled from her position. She seemed pretty happy.

"Tastes like Squ's sword," she answered. "Metal-y taste. Watery."

"...if any of that shit ends up in my hair, I'll fucking kill you."

Zero blinked. Squ was...being mean again. Was he...no longer tired? Ah...speaking of which, Zero's no longer tired either. Huh...wonder why.

"Xanxus," she mumbled but Squalo was able to hear her clearly. "Miss him... I do."

Squalo stayed silent. "...yeah." Squalo took her off his head. "Me too."

The two arrived at their...temporary base. This wasn't their home. It was temporary. They would go back to their original home. Base. Back there and it would be same again.

Squalo made a vow afterall. He would never cut his hair until the day that Xanxus becomes the boss of the Vongola.

"He'll be back."

* * *

There was still something that confused Squalo.

He forgot about it for awhile but it was still in his mind.

"Voi!! Zero," called out Squalo. Zero was able to go on her own missions now. She was taking a break for awhile though.

Obeying Squalo, she walked up to him.

"Squ?"

Squalo paused.

How does he word this...

"That boy...during your first mission. You..._kissed _him, right?" Unless it was a major trick of the light and Squalo was getting too old... Was fourteen an old enough age to start hallucinating?

She didn't hesitate.

"Yes."

Squalo stared and she stared back. Was that it? He just wanted to know if she kissed a boy or not? What was the big deal? She's also--

"Why?" asked Squalo with a deadpan face. Why the hell would she do that? She was fucking four, damn it! She shouldn't be able to just randomly do that (technically, she was almost a senior citizen...)!!

Zero blinked. ...wasn't that normal?

"Girls have to kiss people they're about to kill."

Oh...that made sense.

LIKE HELL, IT DID! WHAT KIND OF LOGIC'S THAT?!

"WHAT THE FUCK?! WHO TOLD YOU THAT?!"

"Prince," answered Zero, simply. She felt hungry... Off to the kitchen she went. Besides, Bel told her that a long, long, long time ago. A few days after Zero started calling Bel, Prince. She's just never been able to do that to anyone since there was no one to kill.

As Zero skipped away, Squalo twitched. It was always fucking Bel who kept fucking with her head.

...wait... Girls have to kiss people they're about to kill? On that day, she killed three more people. Does that mean she kissed the other three too? And now she was going on solo missions too...

"VOOOOOOOOIIIIIII! BEL! GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE! I WANT TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT SOMETHING!!"

Zero blinked as she looked up from raiding the fridge.

"...Squalo's so loud," mumbled Zero. Then, she smiled. "But this Squalo's better than the solemn one."

* * *

**Next arc: Lessons**

* * *

A/N- And that wraps up the Intro. arc. Yeah, that's right; this was the Intro. arc. The next few will be fillers then the plot will continue. Yes. There is a plot. Can you believe it? I still can't...

Thank you for your reviews and favs and comments, reading and just plain clicking on this. Hope you continue. Thank you.

* * *


	8. Break Time: Extras

A/N- Just a bunch of shorts with each beginning with a question. Yeah, it's a filler but some information will be mentioned again in future chapters.

Only five extras 'cause there's no Xanxus and if I put a Zero extra, that would ruin too many things for the future.

Disclaimer- I don't own anything.

* * *

**Extra 1 - Family**

* * *

"Lulu...are we a family?"

Lussuria was surprised. Here the two were, at the library researching, info-ing, reading, whatever-ing, and Zero asks a random question. He then took a look at the book she had in her hands.

A book of family trees?

Ah... thought Lussuria in realization. Zero never had a family, did she? So she wouldn't know anything about them.

Lussuria let out a small smile. He put his own book down and asked a question of his own.

"Well, what do you think a family is?"

Zero blinked and looked up to think about it.

"Fa...mi...ly...." she said, saying each syllable carefully. What is a family? In this book, there was a mother, a father, uncle, grandfathers, grandmothers, brothers, sisters, aunts, and then there was a whole different category with step-parents and in-laws. It all just seemed to be a pain but the photos show such happy faces...

"Does everyone have a family?" she mumbled softly to herself but Lussuria was able to catch that.

"Does it really matter?"

Zero looked back at Lussuria in surprise who only gave the same smile back. He turned away from her slightly as he continued.

"Right now, the Varia is your family. Just imagine me as the mother! And the rest as your brothers!"

Zero blinked. The past doesn't matter, huh? She let out a grin.

"Okay."

Mothers, brothers, and--

"...Xanxus?"

Lussuria paused. He wasn't really expecting that.

"...ah.... Well, boss is of course the boss! He would be the closest to being a father-figure...I suppose?" Then, he remembered all the times that the Varia members were abused by said-father-figure--

...domestic violence, much?

Zero tilted her head in confusion as Lussuria shivered. She looked around the room, wondering if there was a chilly breeze coming from somewhere.

Then, she had a thought.

"Xanxus is...family, too...right?"

Lussuria needed a few seconds to get back from his memories but regardless, he answered.

"Of course." Forget all the physical torment that he had to go through. Talking about Xanxus was still a sore subject but Zero was talking about him so that was a step forward. He smiled softly.

"We're a family..." Whether they liked it or not. Mostly not but still, they were a family.

Zero gave Lussuria a warm smile.

"...yeah."

* * *

**Extra 2 - Girl**

* * *

"Prince, what's wedding?"

"Something that happens when two people agree to get married."

"What's bride?"

"The girl who gets married."

"What's groom?"

"The boy."

"What's married?"

"You mean, 'What's a marriage.' A marriage is..." Bel paused. Huh. What is a marriage? Two people vow to stay forever together but you can just do that without having to do through the wedding, right? So what's the point of a marriage? His parents were married but they didn't exactly stay together...

"Prince?" said Zero, impatiently. She wanted to know!

"A marriage is...something you do to stay with one person for the rest of your life." But that sounded odd to Bel. Like he thought before, couldn't you do that without having to go through all that trouble? And people can break that vow, can't they? So what was the point?

So, what's the point of a marriage?

"What happens? After marry?" Zero continued with her questions.

Bel quickly answered it with another question. "Why do you keep asking about marriage?"

"Because I read...girls want perfect wedding. I'm a girl. Right?" Zero turned her wide eyes over to Bel.

Bel frowned slightly.

"So you want to get married?"

Zero hummed a bit before she answered. "I don't know what marriage is."

Bel thought for a moment to think of a good reason not to get married but would work for Zero. Of course, since he's a genius prince, he thought of one quickly.

"If you get married, you have to leave the Varia and go be part of their family."

Zero's eyes turned wide in horror just after she blinked. She processed his sentence fairly quickly. Bel was impressed and amused. It worked.

"Not getting married. Ever."

Bel didn't smile. He truly did forget the all-true fact that Zero was indeed a girl. She was a cute girl right now. She grew a bit since her being with them. She would most likely end up being pretty...good-looking. She probably would get married in the future. Or at least, get a kid of her own. She would leave them if that happens... That gave Bel an uncomfortable feeling.

His pet can't go leave without his permission and he knows that there was no way he was ever going to let her go. She was his pet. His...devotee.

"...you can still get married, you know," said Bel. "As long as it's one of the Varia. Then, you don't have to leave." He could also have said one of the Vongola family members but Varia was way better than them.

Zero blinked.

"Marry...Varia member?"

Bel nodded.

"But Lussuria's gay, Levi, Squalo and...Boss would be pedophiles and Mammon is a baby. So marry me, okay? That way you don't leave Varia."

Zero blinked again. That made sense (deja vu, much?).

"Okay."

The two had no idea how serious the aspect of marriage actually was.

Ah, but they were children. Children say stupid things like that. It was normal.

Right?

* * *

**Extra 3 - Normal**

* * *

"Cut my hair?"

"Hnnnrck?"

Squalo was just about to fall asleep before Zero asked her question. He had a long day, long mission, long reports, long work, and really, he just wanted a long sleep.

Zero began tugging on his pants as he walked up the stairs and headed to his room.

"Leave me alone," he said wearily. He tried batting the girl away with his sword. That usually worked in the past.

Yeah. In the past.

Zero moved her head to the side to avoid the blade and continued her pestering.

"Cut my hair, cut my hair, cut my hair, cut my hair..."

Squalo groaned and stopped after taking the last step of the stairs. He rubbed his eyes and yawned. He was too tired to even yell out his usual 'VOOOOOOI!!' You can imagine how tired he was for that to happen. Nevertheless, after that small pause, he continued his trudge towards his room. He dragged Zero along the ground as she continued her chant.

"Cut my hair, cut my hair, cut my hair, cut my hair, cut my hair, cut my hair..."

Squalo growled softly. He was going to regret asking this but anyway... He drooped his head low enough to see her face.

"Why?" he bit out. "Why do you want your hair cut?"

Zero beamed at his question making Squalo groan louder but she ignored it and opened her mouth to answer.

"Don't like white hair."

Squalo felt his eye twitch. What was that supposed to mean? An implied insult towards him? He looked over the little girl's hair. Black. As usual. With white patches of hair. As usual. It was the same and usual as anyday. Why ask for a haircut now? At night? Just let him sleep damn it...

She won't let him do that.

"Cut white hair off," she demanded. Squalo twitched again. It almost sounded like she was telling him to cut his hair off too... He crouched down and clutched Zero's head.

"...you're getting pretty brave now, aren't you?" Without moving a face muscle, he cracked his knuckles and before she knew it, his right fist was digging at the top of her head.

Zero's eyes widened in fear. "S-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-squeaky!" She clamped her mouth shut right away. Ah...so nostalgic...

Squalo stopped.

Twitch.

Twitch.

He felt something burst in his head. It was probably really bad if something really did go pop in his head and he really should get it checked but instead he stood up straight and towered over her, his bangs covering his eyes.

"What. Did. You. Call. Me?"

All tiredness was gone. Squalo lifted his sword above his head. If it struck her, it struck and if she dies, she dies but as far as he knew, she should be fine. He swung his arm down--

_CRASH!_

A loud scream and glass shattering came all at once. Zero ran up and down and around the hallways.

"LULUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!"

**"VOOOOOOOOOOOOOIIIIII!!!!!! GET BACK HERE!!!!!! THAT GUY WILL DEFINITELY NOT HELP YOU!!!!"**

Just a normal day...uh, night.

* * *

**Extra 4 - Types**

* * *

"Zero, you're a girl, right?"

Zero nodded. She was pretty sure she was a girl. She didn't want to go through the fish-and-net incident again, so she just nodded. She is a girl. And she can't change that. ...can she change it? She would ask Prince about it later... (Zero's way of surviving life--Ask Bel)

"..." Levi paused.

Why did he have to do this? Lussuria should be the one to do this!! But Squalo refused to let Lussuria handle any matter to do with stuff like this ever since the fish-and-net incident, which Levi had no idea what that was and no one was willing to explain it to him. He asked about it and everyone stayed silent. Squalo just told him to ask her. But she was frigging four years old! No matter how much Levi told them that, they refused to put this off!!!

Zero blinked.

Was he going to give her food?

Give it to her already so she could get more food.

Levi twitched. Then he twitched again. And again. In fact he was on the verge of having a spasm but he must get through with this.

"Zero," he started again. "Do you have...specific things you like? About people?"

Zero blinked.

Huh?

He's not here to give her food? Che. Who cares then?

Zero turned to walk away.

"Huh?! What are you doing?! Come back here!!"

"No food. No answer."

Levi felt another twitching spasm.

"...I'll buy you ice cream."

Zero came back.

"Black hair, sharp eyes, strong, nice, at least to me, tall and good shoulders. In five minutes, I want six scoops each in 3 cones. Or I'll eat your room."

With that, she ran off to who knows where.

Levi blinked. That had to be the longest string of words he's heard that came out of her mouth and yet, he was only able to process only her last sentence. Six scoops...of ice cream? In three cones?! Five minutes?! Eat his room?!?!?

Knowing Zero, her threat was probably true. Levi quickly ran to the kitchen, praying they had leftover ice cream from last night...

If he thought a bit more, he would have realized that her description matched a certain person everyone knew and stayed loyal to... And none of them knew yet but they would be meeting others who matched the description given by Zero.

Of course, the eavesdropping members all thought she was describing Levi...

* * *

**Extra 5 - Natural**

* * *

"Does she ever gain weight?"

Mammon didn't bother to look up from his reading material. Nothing to do with him. Not involved. Leave him alone.

"I mean she eats so much and I know she runs around a lot but that can't be all that helps her keep her body shape."

Don't care. Do NOT care at all. In fact, he should leave right now before he does get involved--

"Aren't you curious, Mammon?"

...honestly? Yes, he was. So damn much... But he promised himself, he would stop getting involved. Weird things happen when you get involved with Zero. Examples being the 'fish-and-net,' the 'bedroom-with-Squalo,' 'meat-money,' etc., etc....

"Mammon?"

"What do you want, Lussuria?" Mammon finally accepted his near-future fate. It wasn't going to end well.

Lussuria clapped his hands in delight.

"Alright then! We can do an investigation about the mystery of Zero!"

"There is no mystery. She's a cyborg. A garbage can. Only difference now is she's an expensive garbage can." Mammon wasn't being mean, he was telling the truth. She was a nobody and now she's...an expensive nobody...who's legs cost Mammon one euro too many... Besides, he's just trying to avoid the entire situation. Maybe he could still save himself--

"Lulu, I want cupcakes!"

Mammon almost had a heart attack. Where did she come from?

Lussuria seemed unfazed by this. He looked straight down at Zero and asked her a question.

"Zero~~ Can you do me a favor? I'll give you all the cupcakes you want!"

Of course the little glutton would agree to it. Mammon had to blink a few times to make sure that the sparkling in Zero's eyes wasn't just a trick of the light.

"Okay! Take your legs off!"

Zero blinked and Mammon blinked again (although, no one could tell with that hood...). What? What the heck would that do?

Still, Zero complied. She was getting cupcakes. She would have done pretty much anything by then.

She disassembled her legs. It would be fine. She could put them back together again. She was forced to learn. Squalo was getting tired of having to call the mechanic again and again everytime something went haywire.

Next, Zero held out her hands.

"Cupcake."

Lussuria smiled. "No problem!"

Mammon left the room while he was still safe.

A few days passed after that...

"VOOOOOOOIIII!! Where's Zero? I have a mission for her!!"

Squalo charged into Lussuria's room, since he heard about the experiment Lussuria was trying to do. He didn't really care as long as she didn't get damaged. He heard the familiar yell of 'Squ!!' from another room. He turned back around and followed the voice. It came from Mammon's room.

Squalo opened the doors out wide and demanded for Zero. He came upon Lussuria and Mammon just staring at Zero who had a mountain of food in front of her.

Squalo blinked. Other than Zero's munching, why were they so quiet?

Before he could say VOOOOOOOOOII, Lussuria cried out.

"I don't understand! How could she lose weight?!"

"I don't understand why this has to be in my room..." mumbled Mammon.

Zero continued munching away on the food pile.

Squalo shook his head. He did not care. All he needed was Zero to put her legs on and go on the mission.

"VOOOI!! HAND OVER ZERO!!"

Casually, Lussuria waved him off.

"Yes, yes, we will, just wait a minute..."

Mammon mentioned why Lussuria kept saying 'we' when he has nothing to do with it as Squalo twitched.

"Just hand her over to me, damn it!!"

With a sigh, Lussuria picked Zero (along with her legs) and dumped her on Squalo.

"I really don't understand..."

Squalo rose an eyebrow. He wasn't going to be surprised by anything of Zero anymore. He decided a long time ago that she was an unnatural thing that just came to be. No questions asked. No questions needed. Just believe in theories without proof. Kinda like the olden days when people believed that earth was the centre of everything. No one cares about proving stuff. At least no one in the Varia...

Once Squalo was gone, Lussuria turned to Mammon.

"Any thoughts?"

"Get out of my room."

* * *

**End of fillers**

**

* * *

**

A/N- I kinda left everything hanging... But they're fillers. No one cares about them, right? Sorry for the long wait and after waiting, all you guys get is this garbage... Sorry... Don't hurt me!!

I'll give you a preview of the next chapter! Actual chapter!!

* * *

_Zero was a kissing fiend. _

_It was all Bel's fault. _

* * *

...don't kill me.

That's all I can give without spoiling the whole thing!!

Thank you for everyone who reviewed and read and fav-ed and alerted and whatever-ed!!

Stay cool--...actually it's getting pretty cold where I live-- Stay warm!!


	9. First Lesson: Take a Break

* * *

A/N- ...yeah, I might have to up the rating for gore...

Note: Mia is Italian for 'mine.'

Disclaimer- I only own Zero, Siobhan/Mia isn't even mine; I took her from Godchild (Kaori Yuki), which also isn't mine.

* * *

Zero decided something.

That wasn't something that was new, since Zero decided something random for herself all the time; however, this decision was pretty important. Something that not many could handle.

Zero decided that she liked humans and their inners.

She especially liked the blood. She compared it to juice. Orange juice. Juice came from an orange when the orange was squeezed. Blood came from humans when squeezed. It was an experiment.

Then, she would remember the white coats. They used that word all the time. Experiment. She didn't how to feel.

Whenever she went on a mission, she gave her victims a kiss good-bye, like always, and pop! There goes the head... Once in awhile, she tries something new. She can't always just beat the person to death, can she? There was always someone faster, stronger, better... To stop that she would have to be smarter and be perfect as perfect could be.

So she experimented.

What parts of the body could eaily be ripped off, what makes the person go to sleep, what makes them stand, how do they move...

Pressing certain points made other certain body parts numb. Hitting that point hard enough was able to kill them.

Bel was on a mission with her and has been staring at her for awhile, just staring as he figured out what she was doing. He was sitting on the countertop of the bar table, one leg hanging off with the other crossed over, his arms supporting the rest of his weight. Bel blinked in a composite manner as he studied her.

"...pressure points?"

Zero stopped with the onslaught of stabs, pokes and messing around in general. She blinked up at Bel. She was surrounded by a sea of blood. There were a lot of people this time around. In her hand was a knife that Bel let her borrow. She shoved the metal object in one of the places she poked to cause her assignment to be knocked out cold.

Zero tilted her head.

"Pressure points?" she repeated. "What what?"

Bel stayed where he was. He wasn't going to go near blood; he didn't want that crap on his clothes. Instead, he voiced out his thoughts from his spot on top of the nice, clean table-like furniture.

"Pressure points are certain areas on the human body where everyone is weak to. Hitting them can cause numbness, loss of breath or unconciousness. Striking them hard enough can cause death. The one easiest to find is the solar plexus. Yeah, the area where you just stuck the knife in. Most assassins know where most pressure points are but since they're small, no one really goes after them in the heat of battle."

Bel stopped to collect his thoughts. "...but if it's you...you can probably do it..." he mumbled.

Zero blinked and turned back to the body at hand. She grabbed onto the knife and pulled it out. Once it was out, she dropped it and replaced the knife with her hand. She heard a sound of digust from Bel but she ignored it to continue her exploration.

The human body was very interesting... There was always something new and different within each one. Slowly, she tore the skin. It was easy once the hole was made. She carefully tore it just so the inner organs wouldn't spill out all at once. Just a big enough gap for her to peer through and take what she needed...

Hmmm... The lungs are black for this one... Why was it? Smoking? Whatever... She just has to remember to stay away from smoke then. Black for an organ wasn't such a pretty colour. It was hard to see through the organs. Tearing the blackened piece out, she dug in deeper.

Something long and stretchy... It was...greeny. She pulled at it and the rest came toppling out. If she read the doctor book correctly (one of the lesson plans Squalo gave), this is...the intest--inteeeessss.... intesty? Intestin. Intestine! What a long word.... Intest. Intest was good enough. La la la... Pull, pull, pull....this was long...

"Hey! Zero! Are you done yet? We don't have all day."

Zero looked up from her play. She pouted. This was why she liked solo missions better.... but Squalo was getting suspicious. She was taking a smidge too much time on the missions so he sent Bel with her this time.

Zero let out a small sigh. Some other time... Some other time...

Zero, still covered in blood, stood up and walked over to Bel.

"Stay away from me. Don't touch me," said Bel as he stood up on the table and jumped over to the door. Opening it, he turned back and motioned for Zero to follow. "Let's go."

* * *

**First Lesson - Take a Break Once in Awhile**

* * *

Zero was a kissing fiend.

It was all Bel's fault.

Back when Zero was a moron (not saying she isn't a moron now; she just gained a bit more common sense), Bel had told her that girls have to kiss the people they're going to kill.

Why? Because Bel wanted to screw with her mind.

Yeah.

It worked.

Of course, once Squalo caught hold of that information, Squalo forced Bel to confess that he lied.

Zero didn't care.

She still continued kissing her victims.

Lussuria told her that she might get some kind of disease but Zero reassured him saying that was impossible since she was a fusion of human and machines. There was a mechanic that was interested in robotics. He came over once and did all sorts of check-ups on her.

Lots of her organs were replaced with metal parts. Hell, even some of her veins were replaced with tubes.

She really shouldn't be alive.

But put those facts away for a second. They'll be mentioned more later on.

The point of this chapter starts with a maid.

Well, actually, Zero had several maids but there was one in particular that she liked.

Zero found her on a mission. Zero pretty much dragged her along since the girl was half-dead. A lot asked her questions such as the obvious, why did you bring her here?

Zero replied that she just wanted the girl. No real reason.

Zero was beaten up by Squalo when she brought the girl in. In the end, Squalo said if she ended up dead, it was the girl's own fault. Zero agreed.

The girl had no family and went by the name Siobhan, but Zero couldn't pronounce that so she gave her a new name.

Her name was Mia.

Right when Mia became concious, Zero kissed her. She was the first one that Zero kissed without the girl ending up dead.

Zero was beaten up again by Squalo when she did. Squalo repeatedly told her to stop but for some reason, Zero really didn't want to.

Again, Zero was a kissing fiend. There was no other explanation.

Now, Mia didn't really mind being a maid. She was poor, had no home and no real life. Now, she had a roof over her head and was never hungry. Mia was surprised when Zero kissed her but she left it alone because it was nice being noticed.

Mia was older than Zero, or at least, looked older than Zero. She was fifteen. Older than Zero by eleven years. Zero treated her much better than her other maids. Mia brushed Zero's hair and dressed her up. She wiped the blood off her when she came back from a mission.

Zero always gave her kisses.

Squalo felt sick.

There were numerous amounts of attempted murder on the fair-haired girl.

Each and every single one failed.

Zero must have installed a 'Mia-in-danger' sensor in her head because she was always there. Every. Single. Time.

Back in the old days when the idea of mafias were forming, there were rules to be followed.

One of them was that to be part of a mafia, you couldn't be interested in the same gender.

Squalo told Zero that to get rid of Mia.

That plan was shot down because all Zero did was point at Lussuria and walked off.

Pissed off, Lussuria was beaten half to the death by Squalo.

* * *

It was little things at first. Just small things like hugs and holding hands.

It still urked Squalo but he left it alone.

Then, she was giving her kisses even though Squalo said not to.

It was getting on his nerves.

She went frigging everywhere with her. To sleep, to bathe, to eat, to frigging who knows what.

It was starting to piss him off.

Currently, Squalo was walking back and forth in the living room, mumbling and complaning and once in awhile screaming.

"Why the hell does she need another maid, damn it..."

Mammon resisted the urge to strangle Squalo. He's asked that same question seven times by now in the last five minutes.

"Why do you care?" Mammon asked.

Squalo blinked at the simple question. Why did he care?

As soon as he thought that, the current bane of his existance entered the room.

No, not Zero.

Mia blinked as she looked down to the ground to avoid the gazes of the current people in the room. She was looking for the kitchen to make something for Zero. Zero had gone out to do who knows what and therefore, Mia was left alone. There were other maids but they were all cold to each other. She didn't feel safe when Zero was gone...and she had a feeling that there were many attempts on her life...

She quickly scattered across the room to the kitchen.

Squalo scowled and glared the entire time until she disappeared behind the kitchen's door.

"Just a phase...she'll get over it..." he mumbled under his breath, trying to convince himself more than treating it as a fact.

Mammon sighed. He was starting to get tired of all the members coming to him about their worries. What, was he a psychiatrist to them? Nevertheless, without looking up from his book, he repeated his question.

"Again, why do you care?"

"I don't!" barked Squalo.

"Then, stop complaining about her. She's a maid. Zero has at least five others."

Five other maids who were frequently replaced every two weeks. It was because they knocked over a valuable item--which cause Mammon to kill them--, they were in the way--causing Squalo or Bel to kill them--, they just disgusted Lussuria--and then they were considered dead--, or Levi would 'accidently' kill them because they annoyed him. Mostly, it was because one member pissed off another and a maid was in the way and was killed in place.

Mia was different.

Zero was dead set on making this girl survive.

Which made Squalo...angry. Weird angry. He couldn't describe it. He just hated the feeling and took it out on the girl.

Mammon watched silently as Squalo's expressions changed from annoyance to wonder to anger to more anger to extremely pissed off and--

A lightbulb went over Mammon's head.

"...Squalo."

Squalo stopped his in-depth thinking and turned to Mammon. Annoyed, he snapped out a "What?"

Mammon was pretty sure this was it. The reason why Squalo cared so much.

"...are you jealous?"

There was a moment of silence.

Mammon carefully observed Squalo's face, looking for any reaction.

There was none.

His face was just...frozen.

A full twenty-one seconds passed before Squalo stormed out of the room without a word.

Mammon watched the door swing back and forth from the amount of strength Squalo put into it. He had to admit, he was pretty impressed with the fact that Squalo didn't scream anything out. Not even a "VOOI!!"

Mia entered the common room once more. She lifted her head up slightly to see Mammon looking directly at her. She bowed down and quickly strided her way to the exit, carrying a tray of snacks.

Mammon thought of giving the girl a word of warning to stay away from Squalo but decided against it.

Where would the fun be in that?

* * *

Levi wasn't sure what to think of Mia.

She was just a normal girl.

He didn't understand why Squalo was so overworked about her. Squalo told (ordered) Levi to keep an eye on the girl. When asked why, Squalo just yelled '**Because I fucking you told you to!!!!**"

Normally, Levi would have retaliated however Squalo looked like someone who had been buried alive and crawled his way out to the surface. He had rings around his eyes and Levi had no idea why.

Levi followed his orders anyway. Truthfully, he was kinda scared just looking at him.

So, there he was, spying on Zero and Mia.

The two were shopping. Actually, it was Zero shopping and Mia was just being dragged around. Zero was being very careful around Mia, like she would break if she handled her too roughly. Levi noticed that Zero was wearing her lightest mecha-legs. The lightest ones broke the easiest but it made Zero move around a lot faster and she was a lot easier to carry.

Zero was small enough to sit on Mia's shoulders as the two walked around window shopping. She was being really kind. Normally, she wore the heavier ones because she considered it training and rarely did she take them off.

Levi noticed something else.

Zero was always, in some way or form, touching Mia.

Whether it was holding hands, hugging, kissing, grabbing onto clothes, hell, even when they sat down, Zero was on her lap.

Levi wondered if this was normal for girls...

"...umm...Z-Zero..." spoke the girl. It was the first time Levi heard the girl speak. She was apparantly French and wasn't able to speak a lot of Italian so she usually chose to stay silent.

Zero stopped licking her six scoop ice cream cone. She was holding onto Mia's hand.

"Hmm? What what?"

Mia looked at the little girl. She's always had this question lingering in her mind but she wasn't able to phrase it correctly and once she did, it was in French. She had to translate it to Italian but it was no good. There was never a good time to ask Zero this question since another maid or a Varia member was always around. She was thankful for everything Zero did for her but she didn't understand why. She wondered why she was brought back. She should've died. Why didn't she die?

"Uh..._Pourquoi..._ _Non..._ Ummm... Why? Save me?"

Zero blinked and then, started to lick her ice cream. Why did she save her? Well...Zero had a reason...but she wasn't going to tell her that. She...just felt like it?

Zero's mission back then was just recon. She was to see if anything worth taking was there. There was a small fight between two families and many died. She looked at the land, covered in bodies. She walked through them to check if anyone was alive. Then, she noticed a shadow moving from the corner of her eyes. Of course, Zero chased it down.

And that's how she found her. Mia was there, scavenging for something to eat. She was much taller than Zero but extremely weak. Thin to the bone and eyes begging for death.

Zero just...took her. She didn't know why. She just did. Felt like it. When she saw her, she claimed Mia as hers.

It was fun. Zero could do anything she wanted. She dressed Mia up and gave her pretty clothes, She styled her hair and taught her (fractured) Italian. Zero kissed Mia for favors or as thanks.

Zero also noticed Squalo's killing aura. It scared her. She would've ran to Lulu but then, Mia would've been all alone and, as Zero learned from past experiences, whatever pissed off Squalo was hacked to pieces; Mia was no exception.

"Zero? My..._main_...hand! Hurts..."

Zero quickly let go and dropped her ice cream in the process. She took Mia's hand again and examined it. Small bruises with fingerprints were left on. Zero narrowed her eyes. She should've paied attention...

Zero kissed the hand and wrapped her arms around Mia's knees. Zero reached up to her waist at max.

"Sorry..." she mumbled. "Base...let's go."

Mia blinked but smiled warmly. She reached out to pet Zero's head but hesitated. Instead, she chose to grab Zero's hand and hold it there.

Levi looked on at the two in shock as they walked away.

That Zero....that gluttonous girl who would rather gnaw on her arm then go hungry dropped her ice cream.

This was serious.

He wasn't sure what 'this' was but it was seriously serious.

He had to report back.

* * *

Bel could feel it.

Levi could feel it.

Lussuria could feel it.

Mammon could feel it.

The tension was so thick, you could almost see it.

Zero was sleeping peacefully across Mia's lap, who was also asleep.

Squalo was sending out death glares to everyone.

No one said anything but four out of seven were thinking the same thing.

...this was awkward.

When Levi reported back to Squalo about his sightings...well, Levi wasn't sure what exactly happened. He blinked and the next thing he sees is that one of the walls disappeared.

Just...gone. An entire section of the room was gone. It wasn't a clean cut or anything like that. It looked as if a tornado had hit.

When the Ninth boss heard of this, he suggested that the Varia go on a vacation.

Zero brought Mia along.

Enough said.

Levi looked from Zero to Squalo to Mia and then back to Zero.

"…hey, how long is this going to last?" whispered Levi to Bel, who only gave a shrug of his shoulders as a reply.

"I'm just wondering why no one's been able to kill her, yet," added Bel. "Is this a new record? What was the last one?"

"It was two months, wasn't it? This one's been here for three weeks or so," answered Lussuria. He wasn't quite happy with a girl coming with them. Zero didn't count as a girl because... well, she was one of them.

"…don't you think it's funny watching Squalo? His face changes really often," said Bel quietly. Unfortunately he wasn't quiet enough and a pop can was thrown to his head.

Squalo scowled and glared at Bel before turning to every single one of them before giving them a glare too. He then turned his head to stare at the window.

Mammon sighed. Why did he have to come? He could've just stayed back at the base but the Vongola boss banned the Varia members from coming back until at least a week of rest.

A week.

Seven days.

With **them.**

He was **not **going to come back with the same mentality.

* * *

"...the hell?" mumbled Squalo, saying what was in the mind of everyone else's.

The Varia members arrived at their vacation home. Hell, they didn't even know they had a vacation home. The Ninth told them that Xanxus knew about it and should've told them but...looking at the house now...it was obvious why Xanxus didn't say anything.

"...did the Vongola always have an upside-down house?" asked Lussuria.

Welcome to the Varia's vacation house.

"...no wonder we don't go on a vacation," said Bel.

The house was literally an upside-down house. Enough said.

"...how do you get in?" said Levi.

Zero blinked. "...through window?" She was holding onto Mia's hand. Zero broke out in a smile and ran towards the house, dragging Mia with her, the thought of food in her mind. Maybe there are upside-down food? Would it taste the same? Or completely opposite? Maybe everything was upside-down?! That would be so much fun to explore--

"Ah! Wait! The...b-bags! Bags are still there!"

Zero ignored the calls to stop, continued her odd thoughts, chose a large window that was set exactly in the middle of the house/cottage/thing and jumped in.

"I'm guessing that's the 'door,'" said Mammon. He felt a cold breeze from behind him. He turned around to see Squalo, his bangs covering his eyes but the aura of the pure state of being pissed off rolled off of him.

They stared. ...obvious, much?

Squalo raised his head slowly and glared at them.

**"What? You have something to say?"**

It was rather frightening.

Squalo was angry but calm. So very calm...

They kinda wanted the noisy as hell Squalo back.

Each picked up their own bags and ran into the house using different entrances.

Once Squalo was left alone, he let out a frustrated 'VOOOII!!' and proceeded to obliterate a nearby tree. He whipped his arm behind and released the hidden bullets in his sword. A crash followed afterwards.

Squalo made a vow.

By the end of the week, that Mia-bitch was dead.

* * *

...seriously. When did he get the label of doctor now?

Mammon looked up from his book to see that Squalo was still ranting and pacing back and forth about how much Mia wasn't needed.

Mammon sighed. This again, he thought to himself.

Squalo denied the fact that he was jealous, stating that he was only annoyed. ...yeah. Only annoyed. Only when people are annoyed do they tend to brutally destroy everything in their path like a twister.

Squalo didn't understand why he was so angry ("I'm telling you; you're jealous, damn it," said Mammon). Like...she only sleeps on the maid. She only bothers the maid for stupid things. She only follows the maid around for no reason. She only just **shares** her food with the maid.

Before she used to just pull on his hair. She used to grab onto his arm. She used to climb over him. She used to just fall asleep on him. She used to share her food with him and it was only him.

He couldn't understand why he was feeling so pissed off over the maid.

"..." Mammon didn't know what to say as Squalo continued his rant. He decided to make a new category for special idiots like Squalo. He needed a name for it...

"Vooooiii!!! So are you gonna help me out or not?!"

Mammon stopped his thoughts to answer Squalo. He didn't need three guesses to know what the swordsman wanted help with.

"...there's no reason for me to kill her. She keeps Zero occupied and Zero leaves me alone. I think it's a fair trade."

Squalo let out a frustrated yell. Mammon continued nevertheless.

"No one else has a problem with it. Everyone's fine. Shouldn't you be glad too? She's not bothering you anymore."

Squalo opened his mouth to retort back but paused.

...yeah. He should be happy...relieved. Why was he so pissed off?!

Mammon stared at him as Squalo's face turned neutral.

"Hmmm..." Mammon mused. He had a theory. A theory that--

...damn it, he really was starting to become a therapist.

He sighed. He asked either way, he asked.

"If it was the Boss that Zero acted this way towards? What would you do?"

Squalo paused from his thinking and rose his head to look at Mammon. What? Boss? Xanxus?

What about him? If Zero acted like this towards Xanxus? She wouldn't do that. She... huh. What is he to her? She likes him but... she would normally just sit back and approach when allowed, touch when given permission and always smile near him. But that's 'cause he's the boss. She...likes him. Squalo can't do anything about that.

Xanxus was-- is in a position where Squalo dare not approach. Afterall, he was the one who swore to get Xanxus to the top and made a vow to never cut his hair until that happens.

It's impossible for Zero to hug and kiss and do the stuff she does to Mia to Xanxus.

Because he's the boss...

Squalo furrowed his brows.

Yeah...that's right. Because he's the boss and Mia is a maid. He's pissed off because if it was Xanxus, it wouldn't matter since he's the boss but Mia is just a maid. She's lower than him. Lower than him.

Still, Zero would never act like that towards Xanxus. He was over a hundred percent sure. She likes, adores, admires Xanxus. That's why she wouldn't act like that towards him. She wouldn't exaggerate her actions towards him like she does to Mia. Mia was just a--

Squalo blinked in realization.

Oh...

Mammon blinked too, surprised by the change of look on Squalo's face. It wasn't angry or sad or mad or anything. It was on the end of enlightment and yet still so human.

Squalo scoffed.

"...Zero's pretty cruel," he mumbled.

There were a lot of differences between the way she acted towards Mia and himself. Towards Mia, she would always delibrately force herself on the girl. Towards him, she reached out slowly but casually. She acted similiar but very different towards the people she really cares about.

Squalo let out a dry smile.

"Zero's killing off the girl herself."

Mammon stayed still. What? What happened? Did lightning just strike him or something?

Squalo ruffled his hair with his hand.

"Tch...got worked up over nothing. That maid is nothing..."

And with that, he just left.

Mammon's stare lingered at the empty space a little longer.

"...what just happened?"

* * *

It was getting boring.

She was getting bored.

Mia was getting boring.

Zero stepped back away from the young girl. She was tired of clinging onto her. She was tired of always being with her.

She admits that's her fault and to everyone else, they thought she was just being Zero as always.

They were wrong.

Zero was doing...an experiment.

When she went on that mission with Bel, the one where they had to kill a bunch of people and Zero 'looked' inside them to see what makes them tick, she realized something; she has to get them alive.

If they're dead, they're dead. Can't do anything else about it.

Zero blinked. So, she did a test.

When she went on her solo mission and found Mia, she saved her because the girl reminded Zero of herself. She wanted to save someone like Xanxus did to her. She wanted someone to pour her affections on and Xanxus wasn't with them at the moment.

So, she took the girl and made her a maid for her.

She was protective and caring towards the girl and the girl obviously liked Zero back.

Here's the thing--

Zero was curious about human feelings. Why do people feel? What happens when you give too much to someone and then, take it all away?

In a way, Zero felt bad about Mia.

She did waste a lot of food on her...all that food she shared with her...gone.

...Zero was pretty selfish, she wasn't going to lie about that. She, like many, wants to get what she wants.

Mia was hers. She could do whatever she wanted to her. To Zero, the girl wasn't a girl, she was a possesion.

"Zero? Zero! Where are you?"

But now, she was getting tired of that possesion. It was fun when the girl wasn't as willing or needing of Zero. Eventually, she was able to get used to it and now, since Zero just took it all away, the maid was getting desperate.

Zero didn't bother to call out for the girl looking for her. It's only been a little over four minutes when she left Mia. Huh...so she was getting desperate.

"Zero! Zero!!"

How long would it be until the girl cracked? Huh...maybe it'll take awhile. Zero should have brought food along with her...

"Zero? Please answer me--!!"

"SHUT UP!! TOO FUCKING NOISY!!! AND WHAT THE FUCK-- Oh...it's you."

Zero perked up when she heard the familiar voice of Squalo. She missed being around Squalo. It was fun. Squalo's reactions were the best and she was happy whenever she was with him... He promised to take care of her afterall.

She was tempted to reveal herself and jump on Squalo but she stayed silent to listen on to the conversation.

"--no. I don't care. I haven't seen her. Go look for her yourself."

Footsteps started to fade away.

"But! I can't find her!! She just...just...disappeared!"

Zero could tell that the girl was getting tears in her eyes. She could imagine it perfectly well.

"...maybe she's just tired of you."

Zero blinked. How did he know? Quickly, she went over different scenarios.

One, he could just be extremely sleepy-tired-sad-grump mode.

Two...uh...

Three! He...figured out her plan?

She sighed softly. It was fun for awhile...seeing Squalo riled up but she guessed that he figured it out. She did think it was strange when Squalo talked normally to the maid when he realized it was Mia.

Whatever.

At the moment, she had something else that was important.

"Mia, Mia, Mia..." she mumbled. "What to do with you..."

* * *

Levi was surprised.

Hell, everyone (minus two) were surprised.

Just after waking up, Levi headed to the kitchen but not before tripping and falling on his face. He stayed in that position, his half-awake mind processing what just happened to him in the last six seconds. He slowly stood up with a clear face of annoyance. He thought it was a(nother) tripping prank by one of the other members but when he turned to see what exactly he tripped on, all he saw was a bag lying across the floor.

The bag was filled with...something.

Levi wasn't sure what it was so he nudged it with his foot.

It was...soft but pretty solid and it didn't move.

Slowly, he walked over to the bag and loosened the knot tying the bag. He peered inside and quickly took nine steps back.

Did he just see...

It was almost as surprising as seeing Zero's leg in that potato sack that long long time ago...

But this was slightly more important.

Without making a sound, Levi quickly ran down the stairs, pretending not to have seen anything.

The rest of the Varia eventually woke up and headed for the kitchen too.

No one was surprised to see Zero at the table first with food everywhere. They were surprised that Mia wasn't there.

Bel mentioned this but Levi made a signal with his hand for him to shut up. Of course, the signal was ridiculous. All he did was wave his hands and made slashing gestures in the air. It was so ridiculous, Bel just stared at him oddly and didn't say anything about Mia.

Squalo was eating his pancakes calmly.

Lussuria looked from everyone's faces to see their reactions but nothing interesting. Lussuria had a thoughtful gaze. Did no one notice the bag out in the hallway? Maybe he should ask...

"...I've been wondering about this for awhile," he started, causing all eyes on him, except for Zero's, who had finished her own pancakes and was concentrating on Squalo's. "Did anyone wonder why there was what there was inside that bag? In the hallways?"

Levi's eyes widened. NO!! He screamed mentally. I DIDN'T SEE ANYTHING!!

All eyes were now on him, except now Squalo too looked away to see Zero trying to sneak a pancake off his plate.

Levi felt himself sweating. WHAT? HE DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING!!

"...your face says it all, Levi," said Mammon, straight forwardly.

Levi's face twisted to form a somewhat neutral face. It didn't work. Small sounds of cling and clangs were heard in the background. Squalo was using his fork and knife to defend his food, while Zero used her own utensils to take his food.

Levi sighed as Squalo finally just smashed his fist into Zero's head. He ignored the scene and spoke.

"...the maid was in the bag."

"We already knew that," replied Bel. "Obviously we would check inside the bag. Lussuria's asking why was she in there?"

"Dead."

Eyes turned to Zero who was rubbing the small lump on her head. Her lips made a pout and an exaggerated frown but it was her voice that spoke out.

"...so...she just died?" asked Lussuria.

"No." Zero poured maple syrup into a cup and mixed it with water. "Killed her." She took a drink from her newly made mixture and Squalo pulled at her cheek for making a useless drink.

Now, they were surprised.

They were also surprised that Squalo didn't react at the news at all.

"Why?" asked Mammon.

Zero rubbed her now-red cheek and replied, "She was boring so killed."

That answered seemed to have satisfied the assasins.

Mammon still stared at Zero a bit longer then turned to eat his own food.

He was staying around idiots too long...that was the only explanation as to why he thought her answer made sense to him. Squalo was the special-kind of idiot so no wonder he was able to understand it quicker than the rest of them.

Mammon sighed.

...he needed a real vacation.

* * *

**TBC**

**

* * *

**

Next time, time skip!! (FINALLY!!)

A/N- Hello!! This time, the wait wasn't so bad, right? I made a nice long chapter right? ...most likely full of spelling errors since I didn't bother to read it over... Anyway, this chapter was to show Zero's personality a bit more. She starts to understand the human mind and body a bit more and will be using that to her advantage.

So, yeah...that's about it.

Thank you for reading/reviewing/faving/alerting/whatever-ing!!!

Stay warm!!


	10. Second Lesson: Trust Yourself

A/N- Time Skip. 'nough said. About four years or so. HAH! No way am I going to go to the Varia arc that fast.

Note: Apparantly Xanxus was in the ice for eight years... (O-O) Wow... But I wasn't too sure about that so I re-read the manga a couple of times (and Reborn wikia...this thing helped me so much!!) and there it was...

Another Note: Vincentio is an Italian name that means conqueror or victor.

Disclaimer- I only own Zero and a few others in here that I don't really care about...

* * *

Vincentio the Conqueror sweated slightly. He wanted to gulp down the choking feeling in his throat but it was put aside. It was in bad taste. He was seated at the front of the table with his men at his sides with only a little girl at the other end of the table.

That's right; he was only facing a little girl, so he shouldn't be feeling this...this feeling. Just a little girl who stood her own ground and looked back at him with eyes disguised to look warm. She had a smile matching those eyes but he could tell there was no warmth behind them. There was something cold about those eyes. It was like a snake hypnotising it's prey; to get it off guard just before it strikes.

Vincentio shook his head a little. No, there was nothing this girl could do. Besides, she only came to get a signature... What was this for again? The sooner he signed it, the sooner she would leave.

He took a deep breath to calm himself down. He grabbed his pen and looked at the sheet of paper below his eyes. He skimmed it over, reading only a few words. A contract for...helping...all for the good of good...will gain much...etc., etc... It sounded fine so far. Alright, he'll sign it! Just...not too fast, he thought to himself. He can't show his nervousness...

He quickly glanced up at the girl.

She continued with that same eery smile and her eyes watched his every move. He had to admit that when his men first came to tell him that there was someone who needed an audience with him and it was with the utmost importance, he was surprised. Caught off guard.

The girl was just a child. Probably eight or ten at most and he would have sent her on her way, thinking she was a daughter of one of his men who came to play... He was wrong.

She said her name was Ricomporre, which was odd since it literally meant 'reset...' An alias? She was young but it wasn't impossible for her to be an assasin. Afterall, hitman trained themselves from pretty much the moment they were born. This girl could be one of them. She said that she was from the Calcassa family but wasn't that family into the trafficking business? What was with this document asking for allies?

Vintentio placed his pen on the paper and started to write out his signature. He didn't trust this girl but that was foolish. He had nothing to be scared of!! He, who was named to be a conqueror! The victor over all! And yet, when she smiled, right away, he felt cautious. Her eyes were half open in a lazy sort of way but it made her look...sinister. The glowing red eyes did not help calm down his suspicions. It shouldn't be possible for such a young face to look so...old.

He finished signing the documents. He was about to hand it to one of his men to hand it to the girl but she stood from her seat and walked towards him, with her head in a slight bow.

It looked as if she was mocking him.

Vintentio furrowed his brows. He could have her killed easily! Why was he nervous? Why as she full of confidence while he worried? It should be the other way around!

The girl opened up her palms and faced them towards Vintentio. She opened her eyes a little bit more and stared straight into his own eyes.

"May I?"

She spoke before but stayed silent for a long time while he was 'reading' over the documents. He barely remembered what she sounded like until just then. Her voice was so much like a child-- it almost caught him off guard.

Hastely, Vintentio handed the papers over, almost throwing the sheets.

"You have your signature, now go tell your boss to never ask for anything again."

The girl calmly took hold of the papers and with eyes softening, smiled.

Vintentio felt his blood freeze.

This smile wasn't disguised.

This one was pure.

Purely cruel.

She held up the papers for him to see and it looked as if a sort of dust was forming around it. Letters began to blur and become replaced; ripped off the page with new ones taking its place.

Vintentio was close enough to see what the ash-like mist revealed.

_I agree to the payment of giving the Varia of the Vongola family the amount written within this contract. All the belongings of my own family will go to them, including the people, money, and property..._

Vintentio looked on with wide eyes. What? When did-- How-- He continued to stare, unable to comprehend what happened.

The girl gave an amused smile.

"Thank you, sir. Your usefulness is done."

Before he could even blink, the girl was on the table in front of him with his face in her hands. She smiled softly and looked at him with fake pity before giving him a quick peck on his mouth and letting go.

The girl pushed off against him and looked at the men at Vintentio's side. She smiled at them and with a nod, she said, "If you please."

"Wha-- What is going on?! This is a--"

His own men had their guns pointed towards him. He stayed silent. His own men who he had trusted with his life were now completely against him. The men who had once swore to take a bullet for him, swore to give up their lives...

The girl was now on the far side of the table, once again. She had her head resting on the palms of her hands, her elbows on the table. Her smile was gone now. She looked at him with a blank face. Her eyes open all the way. It was odd but...this face seemed the most natural.

"Unpredictable, fickle, selfish... Change everything so quickly... Humanity." The girl rose a hand up and waved. "_Arrivederci._"

And the guns released their bullets before Vintentio could even yell for help.

Splashes of blood painted the walls. The girl was safe from the onslaught of colour. She looked at the men covered in blood.

"But... yours were fine..." she said softly as the men of Vintentio's faces began to distort. "Strong-willed and refused to betray for anything..." The distortion was over in a few seconds and revealed the true faces stained with blood, hidden beneath the illusion. "You their only boss..." The blood belonged to the men, now corpses, themselves. It was dried and hardened onto the faces. "Reminds you of anyone, Mammon?"

The girl turned around and looked to the side as the corpses fell on top of their dead boss. At the direction of her gaze, a hooded figure appeared out of thin air.

The baby gave the girl a small disapproving look.

"Didn't Squalo say to stop with the kissing? Bel even told you that he was tricking you. Multiple times."

The girl smiled. "One last thing before gone... I give them."

Mammon sighed.

"Your grammar is as great as ever..."

Ignoring this, she raised her arm up to hand the documents she had on her lap over to the baby. "Should be happy... Enough to get back base...home."

The baby stayed silent as he floated towards the girl to land on her head. Reading over the papers, he commanded the girl to get up from her chair.

"Let's go back."

* * *

**Second Lesson - Trust Yourself (If Not, Who Will?)**

* * *

It's been four years.

Four years of being the Varia without their true boss.

Squalo was still in charge and everyone grew a little bit older, a little bit different, a little bit experienced and a little bit more mature.

A little bit.

They were able to get their previous base back. It took a long time and there were still many objections against them. Still, the Ninth gave them back the base. The Varia were able to repay for their damages made from long back. However, to ease the objectors, the Ninth said that they would still be under probation. Someone will check in with them once in awhile and they have to hand their reports over to the main base. Squalo was still the leader. Substitute leader but leader nevertheless.

Now that they have their original place back, only one thing left to do...

* * *

It was early morning; still dark out but light enough to see.

Squalo let out a yawn and stretched his arms out. When he plopped them back to the bed at his sides, he hit something hard and a small 'oof!' was heard.

Squalo blinked, mind still half-asleep, and turned to the sound.

Red eyes looked at him.

Squalo stared back.

Oh-so-familiar red eyes were dulling into grey as the sun rose, the same black hair with patches of white still left, pale complexion, an innocent-like face...

Really, the only thing that changed with Zero was her height (if you call growing from eighty to ninety centimetres a big difference in four years) and her hair. Her hair was...well...it was everywhere.

The damned girl would cut it herself, which really stumped Squalo as to where she was getting the scissors from since he did hide them, and then for fun or maybe just to make everyone's life difficult, she would throw it everywhere (EVERY-FUCKING-WHERE DAMN IT! Hallways, common room, meeting room, office room, **HIS** ROOM!!) like a flower girl throws flowers at weddings.

Currently, her hair was chopped up in different directions with the right side being MUCH longer than the left side and the back just being jagged...or spiked. She just leaves with a bed head and it was pretty incredible to look at...

It was just a mess. There was no other way to explain it.

Squalo sighed, frustrated and before she could blink, she was picked up and thrown out of his open window. He quickly closed the window right after.

"Fucking hell..." he murmured. "Stop coming into my room, damn you..."

It was a bit sad for him to admit it but...he was getting used to it.

Damn it.

He sighed wearily and moved his head side to side. He yawned and thought back to the previous years... Has it really been that long? Time passed by so quick and yet...so very slow. He thought of everyone. They all grew in some way but they stayed the same. What could he say? He's been with them for so long that...he wasn't sure what to do.

He put a hand through his hair.

What the hell...Thinking of stupid things again...

He was still the 'leader.' Substitute... He wondered if he could continue with this... He really didn't want to.

He yawned and decided to take a few more minutes of sleep but before he could, voices were heard outside his door.

"--coming in whether you're ready or not."

Squalo grabbed a pair of pants lying on the side and slipped them on. He wasn't nude. He at least wore boxers. Yes, he learned his lesson from _that _time, four years ago...

The door opened, revealing a yawning Bel. His hair was pretty messy and his outfit looked as if it was slapped on him. The only thing that was perfectly on was his tiara. Squalo twitched when he noticed this but he ignored it in favor of asking the obvious question as he pulled out a knot in his hair.

"What do you want?"

Bel sighed and ruffled his own hair.

"Someone from..." He paused to yawn again. "The main base came..."

And with that, Bel left to go back to his own room. Mornings were not exactly the favourite times' of anyone in the Varia.

Except for Levi. He worked too hard and most made fun of him for that. ...well, Lussuria kinda liked mornings too. He was always pretty...sunny.

Squalo shook his head to get rid of the useless thoughts.

Squalo put on his shirt and the Varia coat and went down to retrieve the main base person/guy/whatever...

The hallway looked really short and the staircase seemed closer than it used to be... Was it always like that? He knew that the base for sure didn't change...maybe it was because it had been a long time since he's been here but everything had a different feel to it...

Squalo reached the main door and opened it. No one was there, so he guessed Bel let the man or woman or who-the-hell-ever into the living room.

He went to the room to find it empty.

Squalo blinked. There was something missing from this room. It looked a bit empty. Didn't the windows have curtains before? ...huh....guess not.

He was still half-asleep and was processing things very slowly.

Okay... so not in living room and not outside. ...hey, didn't he throw Zero outside? Yeah, she's probably playing with--

Squalo blinked again. He breathed out through his nose, trying not to lose his cool. He was going to pop a vein one day and Lussuria already warned him about his blood pressure. Squalo wondered if he would have had this much stress if Zero wasn't around...

A crash coming from a different room alerted him.

...it was most likely Zero.

Quickly, he followed the sound of the noises and ended up back on the second floor.

He looked around to find no doors. Weird...he swore the noise came from here--

Another crash.

He looked straight across and a memory flashed before his eyes.

It was the wall.

He took a step closer to said-wall. He placed a hand on the wall and felt it vibrate.

It was the hidden room; an extra one.

The extra room was... Well... not exactly an extra room. It used to be a secret storage room full of nothing really important. It was the room that he tried not to go near. That same room was the one where he put Zero in on the night that the Varia attacked Vongola.

Not exactly the greatest of memories and he was sure that it wasn't Zero's either.

The crashes were definitely coming from here.

Slowly, he pushed against the wall, rotating it, and stepped into the darkness inside.

The first thing he sees is a pair of glowing red orbs.

Squalo stared with no surprise in his eyes and flipped on the lightswitch where he knew was at the side of the moving wall.

The light revealed a small room, no bigger than one of their rooms. A plain bed at one corner with another lamp on top of a mini-desk. He never exactly explored around in this particular room. He just knew it existed. He felt a smirk creeping up on him as he noticed the fridge on the other side of the bed.

It was small and stuffy and a claustrophobic's nightmare.

In the middle of the room was where the cause of the noises stared at him with her wide grey eyes.

A flicker of a thought passed through his head.

_Grey eyes of Athena..._

He blinked. Where'd that come from? Whatever.

Zero was surrounded by dishes and her mouth was covered in a mush of (what he guessed to be) food. In front of her was another person tied up with curtains... Well, there's the answer to the missing curtains...

He didn't bother asking how she was able to get back up here and do all this so quickly. You just don't ask questions like that anymore when it involves Zero.

Zero came up to him and hugged his legs.

"Squ," she mumbled and then moved her head up to look at him. She smiled and repeated his name. She rubbed her cheek against his leg and started to tug on them, trying to get him to look at what she did.

And he did look.

Squalo wondered why he was so calm today... There were a bunch of times when he should've yelled out VOOOOOOOIII by now...

Whatever.

Squalo kicked Zero off him and walked over to her hostage; the man who came from the main base. He was...surprisingly not scared.

Squalo tilted his head as he studied him, ignoring Zero's attempts to get his attention.

Pushing Zero's face away, to get her a little bit quiet, he asked, "Who the hell are you?"

The man was wearing a suit (or at least, Squalo guessed it was a suit; it was hard to tell when one was tied up in curtains) had blonde hair and stupid grin on his face, as well as a scraggly beard. ...he looked familiar...Squalo couldn't exactly place him where he saw him...

The man looked up at Squalo and grinned wider.

"Nice girl you have here. Zero, was it? Plays a bit violently but a nice girl. Cute too. How old is she? Looks like my son's age... You look pretty young yourself. You can't exactly be the father...can you? Ah! Don't worry! I won't judge you--"

Squalo twitched. Calmly, he simply asked, "Name?" Must not yell, must not yell, must not yell...

"Is she getting on her rebelling years? Must be quite a lot of trouble."

Squalo took two deep breaths...and then one more just in case.

"Squuuu..." said Zero, as she grabbed his hand and started tugging madly. "Squ, Squ, Squ, Squ, Squ, Squ..."

Flicking her forehead caused Zero to tumble backwards and stay on the ground for awhile. Ignoring her cries of help, Squalo glared down at the man. He gave up getting the man's name.

"Are you here to check up on us?"

The blonde man continued smiling.

"It's not good for the child to be ignored."

He felt a migraine come on.

He asked again.

"What are you going to check up on?"

"You know I heard of a story where a child died from not receinv any love from her parents. You don't want that happening to your girl, do you? You really should think about the future of--"

That did it.

Hell to being polite. Hell to being calm. Hell to everything.

Squalo grabbed the collar of the man's shirt.

**"FUCKING ANSWER MY QUESTIONS, DAMN IT!!!!!"**

* * *

An hour elaspsed since then.

Now, the man and Squalo were in the living room with Zero in the background playing with blocks and crayons and colourful paper and candy and doll heads.

No need for information on what happened in that hour. The curtains were thrown towards the window and left there in pieces.

Everyone looked like they went on a rollercoaster with no seatbelts. Or even seats.

"You treat her fairly well..." mused the man, as he looked on at Zero. "Ah! I've been pretty impolite. My name is Iemitsu and I'm just here to check up on things."

Squalo could feel a vein throbbing in his head, ready to burst. He really couldn't handle this... Turning his head towards the door, he yelled for Lussuria.

**"VOOOOOOOOOOOOIIII!!!!! LUSSURIA! GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE!! I KNOW YOU'RE AWAKE!!!"**

After his last yell, everyone in the Varia was awake...they just didn't want to deal with anything and stayed in their room.

**"DO YOU HEAR ME? GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!!!!"**

There was a thump coming from the second floor and a muffled voice. Some shuffling and then silence. Squalo made out a few voices...

"...urry up and go..."

"No...go..."

"...you."

"...on't...want to..."

**"IF YOU'RE ALL AWAKE ALREADY, THEN JUST ALL OF YOU JUST GET DOWN HERE!!!!!"**

Zero, bored with her toys, started jumping around and kicked up dust, causing Squalo to grab her head and bashed her to the ground.

Startled, the check-up guy stood up and exclaimed, "You shouldn't do that to a child!"

Squalo glanced at the man--Iemitsu?-- and gave Zero an annoyed glare as she swiped at his sword. He smacked her hands away as he replied back to Iemitsu.

"She has nothing in her head to lose."

Hearing this, Zero pouted and chomped on his hand. Then, while he was distracted from the pain, she escaped from his grasp and ran away before he could chase her and most likely beat her.

She couldn't make it past the door.

Zero was on Squalo's lap, about to be noogied/punched/cut-- Zero looked at the older man with tears in her eyes. She was giving him a silent message. Was he going to let Squ hurt her? Her? Hurt? Injure? Bruise? She didn't like pain, you know!

Luckily, Lussuria entered the room before Squalo could give Zero her punishment.

Almost mechanically, the flamboyant assassin sat down on the seat beside Squalo.

Squalo stared.

Zero stared.

Iemitsu wasn't sure what was going on but he had to stare too.

Lussuria looked straight ahead with deadpan eyes.

He blinked and looked around to see three pairs of blurs surrounding him. He wondered why he couldn't see well...

Ah.

He forgot to put his sunglasses on.

Lussuria stood back up and left the living room, the eyes following him out.

...

...

...

...

"...that was the first time I've ever see that guy without his sunglasses..." muttered Squalo, eyes still on the door.

Zero nodded slowly. She was also surprised and like Squalo, still stared at the door.

Iemitsu moved his eyes away first. He coughed to get the two's attention.

...nothing.

Was it that big of a deal?

...apparently it was...

There was more silence.

Iemitsu wondered how long this would last...

A creak of the door opening was heard and Iemitsu, like the other two, turned to see who it was.

This time it was a blond boy with a tiara on his head.

He put a hand over his mouth and yawned as he slowly dragged himself over to Zero. He grabbed her out of Squalo's grip and pushed her to the ground. Once she was on her stomach, he sat on her.

Zero, snapped out of her surprise from Lussuria, blinked. Placing her hands on the side of her head, she slowly pushed herself up and back down. She did this a couple more times and finally, plopped right back down on the floor and started to sleep.

...was Iemitsu the only one who thought that if someone sat on you and then you randomly started doing push-ups was odd?

Squalo, who was staring at Bel the entire time he came in, started to twitch as the little prince looked unguilty whatsoever and proceeded to stare straight ahead at the newcomer on his seat. That's right. The seat that Iemitsu was on was the prince's seat. Oh well. He would let it pass. He had another seat right here. And she wasn't even moving much so it was all good.

Before Squalo could yell(scream), he chanted under his breath about his blood pressure. He inahled deeply.

"...voi," he said in a monotone voice. He continued to speak, gradually getting louder. "You can't just fucking use her as a chair; she's not a fucking object. Am I the only one teaching her common sense? Do you have **any **idea how **hard** that is?! **Do you think I fucking enjoy--**"

Bel put a finger to his mouth and shushed his long-haired senior. "She's sleeping," said Bel. He started to play with her hair, tugging this way and that. "Was it always this long?" he murmured to himself.

Squalo twitched. Must. Calm. The. Fuck. Down.

Slowly, Squalo turned to Iemitsu, who was staring at Zero. Squalo grabbed his attention with a whish of his sword.

Paying attention, Iemitsu asked what he wanted.

Another twitch.

"I could say the same thing to you," said Squalo.

Iemitsu looked confused.

"Hmmm? What do you mean?"

Twitch, twitch, twitch. Squalo took another deep breath. Must not go berserk... He thought of the last time he was this annoyed, which was really just an hour ago and that room was completly gone... They don't have enough money to repair all this shit...

Word by word, Squalo tried again.

"You. Are. Here. To. Check. Up. On. Us...right? Well then...**what is it you need to check on?**"

Iemitsu brightened up.

"Ah! That's right! Hahahaha! I'm here to check up on you! Don't worry about that. Just go on with your everyday activities and pretend I'm not here at all!"

At first, it was silent.

Then, a silent snap was heard. It couldn't have been a real snap but somehow it was heard and it came from Squalo.

Twitch. Twitch. Twitchtwitch. Twitchtwitchtwitch. --

"H-hey... Are you okay? Y-your eye is--"

A thud ended all talking.

* * *

Squalo was staring at a white ceiling.

He blinked.

What the hell? The living room didn't have a white ceiling (it was beige) and...wait, what just happened?

He moved his eyes from side to side. He was on a white bed, with a tray of dishes on a table beside him, along with a curtain surrounding the small space he was in.

An unfamiliar place...

He tried getting up but couldn't.

...wait, this feeling was familiar.

He looked down to see Zero sleeping on top of him, chewing on his hair.

He suppressed his annoyance; he would deal with her later.

Just where the hell was he? This place looked like an emergency room.

Wait.

What happened before?

Wasn't he talking with the Iemi-whatever guy? Where the hell did he go? No...more important was the fact about how he ended up here. This place really was the emergency room, wasn't it?

Before he could begin to think about it more, the curtains slid open, revealing Lussuria who looked disappointed in him.

"Well," he started to say. "I hope you're happy."

Squalo gave him a confused look as he tried to get his hair out of Zero's mouth.

Lussuria continued.

"You got an ulcer."

Squalo blinked.

Whuh?

An...ulcer?

A brief flashback went through his mind... His eyes slowly widened as he remembered. Lussuria started to explain what happened after his breakdown...

* * *

_SPLURT!!_

_Both Bel and Iemitsu watched with opened mouths as blood poured out of Squalo's mouth. _

_Squalo fell forward, eyes rolled to the back of his head, unconcious._

_Bel and Iemitsu slowly made eye contact with each other. _

_What do they do now?_

_..._

_..._

_..._

_Bel moved first. He rose from his 'seat' and calmly left the room, leaving Iemitsu behind._

_"...eh? D-did he just leave? Is he telling me to deal with this myself?" said Iemitsu. He looked to the swordsman, splayed on the ground, a small pool of blood starting to form. ...what should he do?_

_At that moment, Lussuria entered once more, this time, cheery and smiling which didn't last long when he saw Squalo._

_Lussuria turned his attention to the others in the room. There was only Zero and Iemitsu and Zero was already sleeping. Knowing that neither will do anything helpful, he sighed and left the room to call the hospital._

_He always knew that, one of these days, Squalo would burst a vein..._

_Zero woke up shortly after that and watched as men in white started taking Squalo away. Eyes widening, she jumped to her feet, surprising Iemitsu, and followed after. Men in white were bad. Always were and always will be._

_Squalo was sleeping so she had to protect Squalo. That made sense, right? Right. Of course it did. _

_She made it into the ambulance and the men in white ignored her as they began working on Squalo. _

_Eyes wide and scared for her 'guardian,' she jumped and landed on top of Squalo, refusing to move when the men in white tried to take her off. She shook her head and held on tighter. _

_They were going to experiment on Squalo and she couldn't let that happen._

_...as good as her intentions might have been, she was doing the opposite of help..._

_

* * *

_

"Luckily, I came along and was able to knock Zero out. You would've choked on your own blood if she held on to you longer than that."

Squalo looked down on the small girl who had a grip on his still-bloodied shirt. He felt the need to beat her up.

Pushing that need aside, he asked when he could leave.

Lussuria shook his head. "You have to stay here for awhile. You were throwing up blood. Of course you can't just go home."

Squalo felt a vein throb in his head and a loud beeping noise was heard from beside him. He turned to see a monitor of his heartrate.

"If it gets higher than normal, a doctor will come in and sedate you," said a new voice.

Mammon was on a chair, opposite of Squalo's bed and reading a book.

Before Squalo could ask about the others and the check-up guy, Mammon answered.

"Bel and Levi went on a mission and the other went back to the main base. He said other check ups are no longer mandatory." He closed his book. "See? Something good happened from your downfall."

Squalo did not like the sound of that. He opened his mouth to retort back but was interrupted once more.

"...Squ?"

Zero was sitting up straight and on his chest now. She locked eyes with him.

Squalo blinked and stared back. He felt another feeling of annoyance--

Chu.

Squalo blinked.

Zero wrapped her arms around Squalo's neck and kissed his chin.

"No die..." she mumbled into his neck.

Squalo blinked and his anger disapated. He let her do whatever she wanted. He was feeling too tired. He didn't care anymore and just wanted sleep.

"If you wake me up, I'll kill you."

Ignoring everything else around him, he just went to sleep.

Lussuria shook his head and reached out for Zero.

"Let's go. Squ will come back eventually and no, the doctors will not do anything."

Lussuria didn't understand why Zero seemed frightened of the hospital employees. Everytime they came across one, she would stiffen and go into a mini shock.

...it was probably a Zero-thing.

Mammon just floated out with his comrades.

* * *

Iemitsu felt off.

He wasn't happy but he wasn't upset or angry either.

He just felt...bad.

He straightened himself up once the Ninth started to speak.

"And? How are the Varia doing?"

"...I don't believe that we should have to worry about them too much."

"Oh? Why is that?"

"..."

"...Iemitsu?"

"They have enough problems of their own."

"...oh?"

"...Ninth...I think they need a vacation."

"....oh?"

"A long one."

"I tried giving them one once in awhile but they all refused and started going on missions madly... Anyway, were there any problems?"

"..."

"...were there?"

"No sir. None at all."

"Ah. Good to know."

Once Iemitsu left the office, he felt the same strange feeling gnaw at him from the inside, which was odd because somehow, he felt that everything that happened was his fault...

Nah.

He was probably just hungry.

He left it as that and didn't think twice about it.

He really didn't. After he ate, the feeling was gone.

And Squalo had another one who was listed on his 'People-I-Will-Definitely-Kill-One-Day' chart.

* * *

**TBC**

* * *

A/N- Another chapter that didn't really satisfy me... Sorry for bad everything... I just needed this and that done before getting to the parts I want to start wrting on.

Sorry for the lateness.

Thanks to everyone who read/reviewed/anything!!

Stay warm!!


	11. Third Lesson: Don't Cry

A/N- Hmm...you know, reading the last chapter over a few times made me realize... It wasn't too bad. It could've been worse. Oh well.

Reason (excuse) for being late: .............................................I have nothing. I kept changing my mind about this chapter though...

Time: ...let's say that...about 2 years passed since last chapter. Meaning 6 years in total since Xanxus'...frozen-ness.

Age Update: Zero is...'10' (coughfiftycough), Bel is 14, Squalo is 20, Mammon is...(cough) yeah, anyway... Levi is 21, Lussuria is 23 and Xanxus (does not appear but...) is 22.

I'm just following the ages from Reborn wikia. If they're wrong, you cannot blame me.

This time: Zero, a Holiday Special Chapter!! Unfortunately, I'm pretty late with this...

...yeah. Sorry for the long long long wait...

Disclaimer- ...I'm getting pretty tired of this. I only own Zero.

* * *

Squalo was lying down in the middle of the field while his hair was blending in with the snow.

He only stared up at the high heavens, wondering what happened. He stayed there for awhile, every so often, seeing snowballs flying across his vision...

...snowballs.

...funny. It didn't start out with a snowball--

WHAP!!

Squalo blinked and felt the cold starting to bite at his face. He felt a chuck of the ice go down his shirt... He bit his tongue from screaming, got himself up and wiped the offending mesh of water and ice off his face.

He glared at the one who most likely did it.

Zero dropped the snow and pointed at Levi who dropped his own snow pile and pointed at Bel who was already pointing at Lussuria who then pointed at Mammon (since he was the closest to him), in which Mammon gave them all a look that said '...do-you-really-think-I-would-stoop-to-your-level?'

Squalo didn't care. He raised his left hand up, revealing his sword and muttered out, "You are all so....fucking...**dead**."

Much screaming abound.

* * *

**Third Lesson - Don't Cry Over Spilt Milk (Seriously, Who Does This?)**

**

* * *

**

Zero giggled and jumped from one window ledge to another.

It was early morn and Zero and Squalo did their usual morning routine: She enters his room, he throws her out, she comes back in through the back door.

However, today was different. Today was that first magical day where the white fluffy clouds break apart and it's bits fall down to the ground, covering and suffocating all the plants below.

Squalo watched from the window, as Zero slipped on an icy patch on the roof and slid off. The snow on the ground was thick enough to cushion her fall. There was the reason for Squalo's annoyance. If the snow cushioned Zero (who weighed three times more than a normal child), that meant shovelling season came.

"...fuck," he muttered. Zero climbed back on top of the roof and this time, jumped from one rooftop to the other. Squalo closed his curtains and turned back to bed. If he ignored it, a maid would eventually shovel the snow. If not, then someone else.

Before falling back asleep, Squalo paused.

...they did still have maids, right? Whatever happened to them?

He counted the ones he was sure they had left.

One was gone from an 'accident' involving Bel, another was because of an experiment that Mammon was doing, two more disappeared because they were in the way, and the last one...

...huh. What did happen with the last one? That one was Zero's new favorite, wasn't it? ...oh right. That one did suicide.

Squalo growled. Maybe one of Levi's subordinates...no, none of them were here either because the Ninth, being as kind and generous as he was, decided to give them another vacation for winter. Didn't he learn anything from their last vacation?! No one cared about it!! If they wanted a vacation, they would just stop taking missions!!

There was a tapping at his window.

Squalo already guessed it was Zero and he assumed that she figured out being out in the snow only in a long shirt wasn't very smart. He walked over to the windows and slowly, opened the curtains.

He was right.

Zero looked miserable, cold and wet. Pretty much like an abandoned puppy.

Too bad Squalo doesn't really care for puppies.

"No."

And he closed the curtains and went back to bed.

Yes. It was cruel of him but she was wet. She was not going to enter his room, dripping water everywhere. He still found pieces of her hair in his bed. There was no way she was coming in--

"Squ's mean..."

Fuck.

Squalo only turned his head to see Zero jump off the window ledge and into his room. She walked across and exited the room, leaving--like he guessed--a trail of water.

Who was it that gave her the tool kit? Ah, it was Levi... Squalo made a mental note to kick his face the next time he saw him.

You see, Zero learned a thing or two when being with certain members of the Varia. With Mammon, she learned to bait him with strawberry milk, with Bel, whatever he wanted at the time and with Squalo, she learned to bring her tool kit.

It was usually because Squalo broke one of her legs and then she would have to fix it herself (Squalo stopped calling the mechanic). Levi, thinking it was for the good of the Varia (if her leg broke in a mission, she wouldn't be helpful), gave her a mini-tool kit! It was very helpful. Zero learned to pick locks and break into homes.

Oh and fix her leg too.

Zero wandered around the hallways, looking for someone to play with her. She quickly changed her clothes and was wearing Squalo's shirt she picked up when she went through his room to the bathroom. He never noticed so she guessed he wouldn't care about it.

Zero pouted as she continued her walk.

Where did everyone go?

...she never learned how to tell time. She always woke up at 3 in the morning to go enter Squalo's room, then get thrown out at 6 in the morning (since that's when Squalo usually gets up), and she eats and by then it becomes 10 and usually someone else was awake.

It was 6:30 a.m.

Squalo, although he wakes up at 6, doesn't physically get up until at least 9.

Zero would have gone to the kitchen but shockingly, she wasn't hungry. Maybe it was because she already ate a lot of snow when she was outside...

Speaking of snow, she wanted someone to play with her outside.

Maybe Prince will play with her?

Zero only had to knock on Bel's door and she ended up attached to a wall by knives. Figures Bel would make traps to stop people from interrupting his sleep...Zero guessed this was how most of the maids disappeared.

Dettaching herself off the wall, she decided maybe she should leave everyone alone...

Nah.

Zero decided to go back to Squalo's room.

* * *

Squalo woke up to a familiar sight.

He should be surprised.

He felt nothing. No annoyance. No anger. Nothing.

He looked at the time and sighed. Might as well get up...

He rose out of bed and shuffled around for a shirt.

He blinked. He was sure he left one out the night before.

Zero murmured something unrecognizable and snuggled deeper into his bed, taking the blankets with her. It was then Squalo realized that she was the one who took his shirt.

He felt his eye twitch. Annoyance started to creep back into him...

He thought of ripping the shirt off her but then thought against it since things like that always backfired against him. He sighed and put a hand through his hair.

His hair grew again and it was long enough to cover most of his back. How many years has it been now? Too long...

He walked over to the closet and grabbed a new shirt. He went over to his bed to where Zero was and slung her over his shoulders as he left the room.

He winced as the light of the hallways hit his eyes but he moved forward towards the stair to go to the kitchen.

He was surprised to see Lussuria was already there, cooking.

"Good morning!! Did you sleep well?"

Squalo grunted in reply and dumped Zero in a seat. He wasn't going to bother asking what he was doing up already... Lussuria woke up at unusual times.

"Food," he demanded.

"Hmph! No manners at all!" Nevertheless, Lussuria already had a plate ready for him and several more for Zero.

Smelling breakfast, Zero opened her eyes and proceeded to eat without much thought. She then paused and looked up to say her thanks.

"Baouhs puu."

"No talking with mouth full!" he scolded.

Squalo groaned and just started to eat his own breakfast only to find it missing. Right away, he thought of Zero as the culprit but he looked across to see Mammon, chewing on what looked like _his _remains of breakfast...

"VOI! Those are mine!"

Mammon only shrugged his shoulders, causing Squalo to jump out of his chair to knock the small illusionist down.

Lussuria only sighed and shook his head as he drank his morning coffee. "We're all such a rowdy bunch."

Levi silently cried at the corner of the table.

"...no one noticed me...even though I was here first..." he mumbled and played with his food until he felt a pat on his head. Turning his head, he saw Zero holding out a lollipop. She blinked and smiled as he accepted the small treat.

Levi almost cried. "Zero...you're my only friend..."

Zero blinked and tilted her head in confusion.

...friend? What's a friend--

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knife going through the air and hitting the wall next to her head.

Bel entered the room with a bed head (but of course, his tiara was perfectly set in place).

He wasn't smiling.

Everyone stopped to stare as the young prince went to the fridge to get out a container of milk.

_Chug, chug, chug..._

Bel wiped his mouth with his sleeve and smiled. He felt better now. A good drink was what was needed... He turned to his gaping audience.

"...what?"

Mammon spoke out first.

"It's rare to see you without your bangs covering your eyes..."

Bel blinked (visibly) and gave a wider smile.

"Oh? Be lucky, commoners! The prince rarely shows his face to anyone!"

As soon as he said that, Bel fixed his mess of a hair to his normal style.

Squalo scoffed.

"And here I thought it was someone else...but that attitude is definitely Bel's..." he said as he returned to his seat to see that Lussuria had set up a different plate of food for him.

Lussuria clapped his hands and complimented Bel and then continued off in his usual fashion about nothing important...

Bel took a seat beside Zero who only kept staring at him. Bel raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"What? Am I that good-looking?"

Honest as ever, Zero nodded.

"Really good!"

Bel was a bit taken back but then, quickly smiled and leaned in close to her.

"'Really good?'" he repeated her words. "Tell me more."

"Prince is...cool? Really cool! Eyes..." (1)

He started tugging on her hair.

"Shishi... Go on."

"Prince...very! ...uh..."

"Yes?"

"...word is--"

"What the hell are you two doing?"

Bel turned to see Squalo scowling in their direction. The young prince was literally only an inch away from Zero. Zero, of course, would only stare at Squalo blankly, feeling nothing. Bel smirked at him and asked:

"What? Jealous?"

It doesn't take much to piss off Squalo.

It also didn't take much for Squalo to lunge over the table and knock Bel to the floor, who already took out his own knives in preparation.

Little bits and pieces of their conversation was heard.

"You hormonal little-- The Prince doesn't need to-- SHUT UP!-- Kill-- Just try it!--"

Zero blinked but then, jumped into the fray herself (because she's an idiot, you know), disregarding Lussuria's voice to 'Let boys be boys.'

Lussuria sighed once more and looked at the calendar to see what was planned.

Oh? Oh. Oh!

Abruptly, he stood up, surprising Levi, and yelled out, "It's already a new year?!"

The three stopped their 'play' fight. Squalo had his sword under Bel's chin while Bel had a knife above Squalo's heart and Zero was crushed under the both of them.

"Hah?"

Lussuria only moaned in agony. "How could I have forgotten?" Dramatically, he held his hand to his forehead and fell to the floor.

Mammon swiftly took the calendar from his hands and stared.

"...ah," he said. "It's not a big deal." Zero zipped to Mammon's side (causing Squalo and Bel to tumble to the floor) to see what was wrong. Squalo, ignoring Bel, stood up and followed after her while Bel just stayed, content to where he was.

Mammon's words stopped Lussuria from his crying.

"Not a big deal?! Of course it is!!" Lussuria cried out. "A New Year's countdown...and we completely missed it!"

Squalo froze in mid-movement of picking Zero up. "Huh?! That's what the big deal is?! So what? There's a countdown every year. Don't miss the next one."

Zero peered at Squalo from the corner of her eyes as he continued what he was doing. She blinked at him, asking 'what what?'

"You have food smeared everywhere..." He would know. During their scuffle, he felt something wet in his hair and he didn't want to know what it was unless it was out of his hair. He scrubbed her face with a napkin and gave a lump on her head for the gift she left on his hair.

"--no countdown, no party! And--oh!-- No party!!" Lussuria sank deeper into depression, forming a giant chasm of darkness around his surroundings--

"Are you making that background?" asked Levi to Mammon.

"...it's making it more dramatic, isn't it?"

Levi didn't reply back.

Squalo growled and scratched the back of his head (Zero jumped out of his arms quickly and ran over to Bel). "Alright, alright! We'll have a New Year's party...even though it's already too late..."

Lussuria brightened up immediately and the background luminated his figure, making an ethereal glow, causing Squalo to turn to Mammon and bark 'Cut that out!!'

Zero, who was sitting beside Bel on the floor, blinked.

"A...party?"

Bel casually put an arm around Zero and smirked. "Yup... A party."

* * *

When Lussuria wants something done, he gets it done.

"..." Levi only stared with open eyes at the common room. He just left for the washroom and came back to find himself in what looked like a ballroom from the movie, Titanic...

"I always loved that movie," mumbled Lussuria, happily, as he hung a plant of some sort over a door. Levi noticed that same sprig of plant was hung over every entrance.

"...is that..." What he thought it was?"

Lussuria turned to Levi with sparkles in the sunglasses. "We never celebrated Christmas this year, too! Mostly because Bel set the tree on fire but!! That is no excuse! Christmas decorations will also be placed everywhere!"

"...so that _is_ mistletoe..."

Lussuria turned to Levi with a 'hmph!' "Of course it is! What else do you expect?"

"...this is a house full of guys, Lussuria."

"And?" He failed to see what was wrong.

Levi blinked and only turned away to go to the kitchen.

Lussuria nodded. "I thought as much." Once he finished hanging the last sprig of the parasitic plant, he turned to see his work. Every piece seemed to sparkle or shine in some place. Florence-styled. He felt rather Renaissance-like. He smiled and hummed a bit. "Great!!"

"Lulu!" cried out Zero.

"Yes yes?" said Lussuria as he looked around for her. Where was she...

"Tastes funny..."

Lussuria looked down from his step ladder to see Zero gnawing on something green with berries of some sort--

"No no no!! Zero! You do not eat that!!"

Zero blinked up at her...'mother-figure' and tilted her head in wonder. "Why?"

"That is practically poison and-- Actually, nevermind. Knowing you, poison won't work..."

Zero blinked, then looked around the room to find many of the same plants hanging above doors and entrances. She looked down at her hands to see the half-eaten plant.

"What is it?" she asked, as Lussuria plopped down in a chair, tired from decorating.

"That? Mistletoe. Oh, right. Of course you wouldn't know of it... Come here. Let me tell you a story."

Zero blinked, stayed where she was and pointed to herself. "Squ told me that...shouldn't listen to Lulu's stories anymore."

Annoyance poured out of Lussuria. "That man...never trusting me. I'm hurt. Come now, Zero! Do you think I would say anything crude?"

Zero thought about it. Lussuria felt a bead of sweat go down his face as he realized that she really was thinking about it seriously.

"Oh very well. It's just that whoever is under the mistletoe with another person must kiss each other."

"Must?"

"Yes. Must."

"Oh... Anyone?"

"Yes. Anyone."

"How long?"

"'How long?' Hmm... I guess until one of you stops?"

Zero blinked, turned away slightly (her hair hiding her eyes) and smirked. It looked rather evil and Lussuria had to take his sunglasses off, rub, and put them back on to see if he was seeing correctly.

She was back to normal with her blank face.

She smiled at Lussuria.

"Hungry," she said and walked into the kitchen.

...he must have imagined it...

* * *

It wasn't a surprise to say that Squalo was not pleased with the decorations.

One look and he was disgusted but he forced a non-agressive frown. Instead of worrying about the decorations he asked who was going to shovel the snow outside.

Lussuria only looked at him blankly.

Levi kept changing the subject which just made Squalo knock him unconcious.

Mammon just gave him a look and that was the end of that.

Zero wanted to shovel and then, Bel (suspiciously) offered to go with her.

Yeah. Because Bel was full of goodness and sweet feelings and crap like that.

**Fuck no**, he was not going to be alone with Zero!! Bad things happened when the two brats were stuck together!! Especially if a boy in puberty was alone with a girl (it doesn't matter if the two were 'four' years apart) or more importantly, if _Bel _was alone with _Zero._ Too many bad memories... Like when Bel convinced her that Squalo was an albino...she didn't let him go anywhere without (pretty much) dunking him in a bathtub of sunscreen. Or the other time when Bel told her that only girls have long hair and then, that whole 'girl-boy-fish-and-net' fiasco happened again (and no, he will NEVER explain what happened then). There were just too many times when Squalo almost ended up in the hospital from the stress...

So Squalo went along.

Then Mammon decided to watch. Not help, just watch.

...yeah, pretty soon, the rest just went out to watch which pissed off Squalo but he left it alone...for now.

Squalo looked over at Zero to see that she was doing and was surprised to see that she was actually shovelling--

--for an ice slide...

Bel, who had the hose (Squalo didn't bother wondering where he got that from), sprayed the clearing and once the water hit the ground, it froze.

"VOOOI!! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO SHOVEL--"

_Whap!_

He ended up with a mouth full of snow, which quickly melted into water.

"Shishishi! Looks good on you, Squalo. Matches your hair--"

_Whap!_

Bel ended up on his back, face covered in snow. Wiping the snow off, he saw Zero standing above him, smiling. Bel frowned. No one gets away with that. Quickly, he stood up (which caused Zero to run away) and grabbed a bunch of snow and threw.

"Luluu!!!" screamed Zero as she dived behind Lussuria, who was then hit with the snowball that was intended for Zero.

Lussuria stayed silent.

That was until another snowball hit him. Lussuria turned to see it was Squalo this time but the swordsman wasn't even looking at him and was glaring at Zero. Lussuria noticed that his hair was covered in snow and ice.

He mused and wondered when she was able to hit him so many times--

This time Lussuria ended up on the ground and Zero ran to take shelter behind Levi.

"...she was using me as a fort," said Lussuria, understanding what just happened.

"...you just got it, now?" asked Mammon, who was sitting on a tall pile of snow, and was on equal height with Lussuria once the taller man stood up.

Mammon turned his head to the side and held up a hand and stopped one snowball's movement in the air. He looked at Zero, who was behind an unconcious Levi (who was still being hit by snowballs), and said, "Don't even try."

Zero smiled, showing her teeth.

Mammon blinked.

And then, he ended up being buried in snow.

He paused, thinking, '...how'd this happen?'

Zero was waving at him from the other side...wasn't she beside him? Well, it didn't matter now, since she was running around with her usual super speed, hitting anything that she perceived as a threat.

Mammon looked at see Squalo, like Levi, was out for the count-- oh no, Levi got back up.

_Whap!_

And another snowball hit it's target. Target being Mammon's face.

Mammon's mood darkened.

He floated himself out of the bank of snow, along with a legion of snowballs.

Darkly, he muttered, "You are all going down..." And the slaughter continued.

Bel hid behind a tree and shoved a knife in one of his snowballs. which Lussuria noticed (since he was only a few metres away from him) and called him out on it. Bel responded by throwing the hidden weapon projectile it at him. Levi made his own fort and Zero was now no where to be found.

Squalo was still knocked out. Bel had fun throwing snow at him the most and Zero agreed.

Then, there was a barrage of snow from the sky.

Nope. It was Zero on the roof. She jumped down and threw a wave of snow toward Levi, but Squalo was in the way so the wave never got to reach the taller assassin.

It was around that time Squalo woke up and the screaming started.

* * *

"Wow, we made it worse than before," commented Bel.

What used to be the entrance way to the front door looked like a war came and left them. Patches of grass peered through in one area while a mountain of snow was left on the other side. Lumps and hills covered the landscape.

"Shut up!" snapped Squalo. "It would have been fine if you two--" He hit Zero on the head. "--Didn't screw around!!"

Zero was rubbing her cheek to get some of the pinkish water off. Everyone, in some way or another was bruised, bleeding, or (most likely) had frostbite.

"Well, well... No harm done. It'll all melt away eventually," said Lussuria.

"What about missions?" asked Levi. Mission reports were sent by hand since it was easier to hack into technology, nowadays.

"We'll get them when we get them," said Mammon, surprisingly indifferent about everything.

Bel stretched his arms out. "The Prince is tired." He let out a yawn. "I'm going back in."

Zero nodded and followed after.

Squalo sighed in weary and grumbled about a waste of time everything was.

"Why did we come out here again?" Levi turned to Squalo, looking for an answer.

"Didn't I just say it was to fucking move the snow out of here?!"

Levi creased his eyebrows. "No no no... There was another reason why you went with Zero and Bel..."

Mammon sighed in annoyance. "It was because of Lussuria's decorations...even I didn't want to be in there..."

Speaking of decorations...

Squalo stopped in his tracks. "FUCK!" Then, he sprinted towards the door.

Lussuria tilted his head in slight confusion. "Hmmm? What's wrong with him?"

As the three came closer to the door, Lussuria's question was answered.

"**VOOOOOOOOOIII!!! BEL!** GET YOUR-- STOP STRUGGLING-- ZERO! STOP MAKING THIS DIFFICULT!!"

"But Lulu said must...until one of us stops. Don't know when to stop..."

"**DON'T FUCK WITH ME!! BEL!! UNLESS YOU WANT TO LOSE YOUR HAND--**"

"Like you? Shishishi... no thanks."

"**...you want a lose your tongue, too?**"

"Heh! At least I got to use mine. When's the last time you did?"

"**...fucking DIE!!**"

Levi, Lussuria and Mammon only stared at the familiar-looking scuffle between the prince and the swordsman.

"...I'm going to watch TV." And Levi left to the living room.

"...me too," said Mammon and went after him.

Lussuria only frowned as the two dropped their coats on the floor, making puddles. He 'tsk'-ed and shook his head. "Such rowdy boys we have..." He completed ignored the fight and picked the coats up to hang.

Zero was off to the side, giggling. Lussuria gave her a small glance. ...she didn't plan all this...right?

Of course not. Zero's not that smart.

She continued her giggles. Unlike the others, she put her coat away on a hanger which Lussuria was thankful of.

Lussuria smiled and hummed a bit as he cleaned up.

"Well now! We can have our party!!"

Squalo and Bel stopped their fight.

"What?!" exclaimed Squalo. "What time is it?"

"Three!" called out Mammon from the living room.

Squalo blinked. "...in the morning?"

"Do you really think we spent over twelve hours outside?" asked Bel as he got up from the floor and took his own jacket off. He dropped it on the floor and left it there, causing Lussuria to frown, and walked over to Zero.

He gave her one of his usual smiles.

"Want to continue?"

Before Zero could reply, she was already whisked off the ground and over Squalo's shoulder.

"Fuck off, Bel!"

And Squalo went to the common room to tear the decorations apart, carrying Zero with him.

Bel smiled and went off to the living room. Something interesting might go on there...

So, that meant Lussuria was left was cleaning after everyone else. He 'hmm'-ed in an unapproving way but he couldn't change them.

In a way, he admitted that this was his fault. He could still hear Squalo swearing and yelling about 'Staying away' or whatever...

...hmmm. Maybe a drink would help him?

Lussuria thought more deeply as he finished tidying up.

"...I kind of want to see a drunk Squalo...or a drunk Mammon."

Hell, now that he was on the topic, it might be interesting to see them all drunk...

He let out a devious smile and joyfully skipped to the kitchen to see what he could do...

On the way, he passed by Squalo and Zero who were 'playing' tug-o-war with a piece of mistletoe, ignoring Lussuria's prescence.

"You can't eat it, damn it!"

"A-ack...Acqueered taste!"

"It's 'acquired!' And I'm not gonna ask how you know that but LET GO!!"

Lussuria sighed and closed the door behind him, blocking out most of the noise.

"Wonder if we're always going to be like this..." Then, Lussuria looked around for some kind of alcohol beverage... Ah ha! There it is!! Now for Bel and Zero, it should be mixed with juice or something...

Bel entered the kitchen soon after, looking for something to drink.

Lussuria happily gave him a cup, already full of juice. Bel took it with no hesitation and drank it gone.

"...tastes weird..." he mumbled but shrugged and asked for more. Lussuria obliged.

Once Bel was happy with the amount he had, Lussuria left the kitchen to give everyone else their drinks, unnoticing Zero who passed by him to get into the kitchen.

Zero decided that Squ was being mean again... Not giving her the plant to eat...now she had to go find food herself... She found Bel lying face-down on the floor.

She blinked.

"...Prince?" She shook him awake which was able to get him up but the blonde just stared at a corner of the kitchen. She noticed that he had a cup in his hand but it was empty so Zero ignored it and got up once she knew that Bel was awake. She walked over to the fridge, only to fall flat on her face and looked behind to see Bel was dragging her back to him.

She gave him a confused look. He gave her a lazy smile. He looked a bit flushed...

"Wanna play a game?" he asked her, leaning over her face and began tugging at her shirt.

She blinked in wonder but she was interested. Games are fun.

"Okay."

* * *

Before Squalo took a drink from his cup, which Lussuria shoved in front of his face, he stopped to look for Zero.

Putting his cup down, he strided over to the kitchen, getting a bad feeling in his stomach.

He opened the door to see--

* * *

**"LUSSURIA!!!!!"**

"Oh my! So loud!" Before Lussuria could run away, since he guessed what happened, Squalo appeared and tackled the necrophiliac down, which would have made any pro football player proud.

Squalo, strangling his victim, hollered in his face, "WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING?!"

Lussuria coughed and hacked and strained for his voice to be heard. "It...couldn't be...that bad!"

Squalo dropped Lussuria's head to the ground, satisfied to hear a thud, but he didn't linger on that for long because he reminded himself why he was angry in the first place.

"Those two... They... HE! ...She was... FUCK!! JUST STOP TRYING TO FUCK THINGS UP!!" Squalo stomped back to the common room from where he came from.

Lussuria stared until he disappeared from his sight.

"...did you get a 'deja vu' or was that just me?"

Lussuria turned to see Mammon standing behind him with a cup of whatever Lussuria handed to him. He wasn't finished speaking.

"Also, if you want to get me drunk, you have to be smarter than to just hand me a cup of alcohol."

And Mammon too, left.

Lussuria heard a thud from the living room and guessed that was Levi. ...maybe just straight up vodka in a cup wasn't a great idea. Oh well. The house was silent...the last time it was this quiet was...actually it was only when everyone sleeps was it this quiet.

He kind of wondered where Bel and Zero were...

* * *

Bel woke up and looked around before clutching his head in pain.

"Ugh...my head hurts."

"Oh really? _Your _head hurts?"

Bel gave a glance towards the ceiling to see Squalo sneering at him and turning his back away.

"What time is it?"

"Now? Two."

Bel stayed silent. Two? ...wasn't it three before? ..he didn't even remember falling asleep. Last he remembered was drinking something and then, blank.

He turned to Squalo again.

"What happened?"

"Shut up." Bel opened his mouth to retort but Squalo repeated, "Just shut up," and rubbed his temples. He saw Zero shifting in her sleep and mumbling about something or another.

"Too fucking tired for this shit..."

"What? Were you staring at us sleeping the entire time?"

Squalo glared. "Shut...up."

Bel smirked, despite the headache he was having. It was starting to numb away. He couldn't help but challenge him once more.

"Make me."

Zero woke up to the sounds of metal clashing and Squalo and Bel threatening each other with their own weapons. She blinked.

Nothing unusual.

The fighting kinda...calmed her. She smiled.

It reminded her that... She yawned. It reminded her that...the Varia were still the Varia...regardless of the years that went by...

"...night..." she whispered and closed her eyes.

Once she did, Mammon entered the room to tell the fighting duo to shut up, which was pretty loud itself and caused Levi to come and argue about the noise, making Bel and Squalo have a temporary truce as the two beat on Levi. Mammon growled and went back to his room, passing Lussuria who finally came down to the common room to see the big commotion and then, scrambled out of the room to avoid getting involved in the quarrel.

And Zero, who was on the sofa chair, slept peacefully.

* * *

A/N-

(1) - According to Lussuria (in a Reborn manga volume), Bel's eyes are both 'cool and loyal.' ...yeah, I still can't imagine it but I'm guessing he's good-looking. For me, I imagine Bel would milk out any compliment. He does say call himself a genius prince and all so I'm pretty sure he'd be flattered with anything good...

Okay...first of all, this is **not** a BelxOC or SqualoxOC, or frigging AnyonexOC story. This is a screw-with-the-OC story (mentally, physically, verbally, emotionally, whatever-lly). And let me explain with everyone's behaviour. Bel is a teenager. I'm pretty sure he, like everyone else, goes through puberty; that awkward stage that, for some reason or another, isn't too awkward to him so he 'experiments' with Zero, being the one closest to his age (she looks like it so it's good enough), A LOT.

Squalo is her guardian at the moment so, of course, he won't approve of Bel teaching Zero useless things.

A lot of blank areas throughout this chapter is for you to imagine what happened. ...just think about it. It's not too hard to figure out what happened based on their personalities.

_Next Chapter: Guess who's back?_

Stay warm, everyone!


	12. Cut Scenes

A/N- This is NOT a chapter... This is more like an extra scene that couldn't really be placed anywhere... Practically a drabble...a long drabble but a drabble nonetheless. This happens after the Holiday special and Zero asks Squalo what a 'friend' is in which Squalo replies...

Disclaimer - I don't own anything except Zero.

* * *

"--He was a complete bastard who had a mental disease that made him think everyone other than himself was as low as trash. A complete asshole who lived off of the raw meat that he kills by himself with his barehands and was, is and always will be the king of morons. Always interrupting me for the STUPIDEST THINGS!! THE PICKIEST EATER EVER!!!! THERE ARE SOME DAYS WHEN I WONDER 'WHY THE FUCK AM I STILL HERE FOR?!?!? AND ANOTHER THING, DID YOU KNOW THAT COMPLETE AND UTTER SONUVABITCH FUCKING THREW HIS CHAIR AT ME?! HIS FUCKING CHAIR! THAT SOLID GOLD CHAIR, DAMN IT!! WHY THE FUCK DO I WORK FOR THAT GUY?! WHY THE FUCK DO I--"

Zero stared as Squalo continued his rant.

It's been awhile since she's ever thought about mentioning Xanxus. She never talked about him. Others believed that she just didn't want to talk about him. She did. She wanted to talk about him. But she wasn't sure if the others wanted to.

She decided that it's been years now; it should be fine to talk, right?

...there was such a thing as being stupidly 'kind.'

Why did Zero want to talk about him? She just...wanted to know though. She realized that she's only known Xanxus for less than a year...and despite the years, she's still only known him for that amount of time.

She liked it when he patted her head, gave her smiles (that didn't really look like smiles but she knew they were smiles), praised her (it was still only a pat on the head) and he took care of her. He let her in his room and she knew when he wanted to be alone. He let her sleep on his bed as long as she didn't bother him.

She wanted to know about Xanxus. What he liked, disliked... What made him happy, angry...a lot of stuff made him angry...

Nevertheless, she wanted to know everything about Xanxus!

Because...Xanxus was...Xanxus.

Zero loved Xanxus.

Very much.

He was the reason why she was here...she could never forget that; will never forget that.

It was...ironic...on the day that she vowed to be with Xanxus until he has no use for her was the day he was frozen in that block of ice...

Zero asked Mammon first but he replied by saying that Squalo knows Xanxus best. The two have known each other for a longer time than the rest of the Varia.

They were friends.

Kind of.

Maybe.

...probably not.

...no.

...Zero wasn't too sure.

She continued to listen to Squalo's rant. He must have been holding it in for a long time.

...ah! Lulu told her not to get Squalo so riled up.

Lulu told her that anger and/or strong emotions get increase the acid in people's stomach which gives them an ulcer.

Zero just blinked.

So Lulu stupidified it for her--

The doctors will have their way with Squalo if she keeps making him angry.

...of course, that sentence could have been interpretted in so many ways that once Mammon heard that, he immediately left the room.

Of course, Zero didn't get it.

Nevertheless, she walked over to Squalo to try to calm him down.

She pulled herself up on the couch and stood on her the tips of her toes to reach Squalo's face.

"-- DAMN IT! THAT HURT LIKE HELL! HE HAS THE WORST TASTES IN EVERYTHING!! DO YOU KNOW WHAT HE DID TO ME WHEN I ASKED HIM ABOUT--!! What the fuck are you--"

She placed her hands on Squalo's face and kissed him.

Once she did that, she jumped off the couch and left the now-silent room.

As she walked up to Xanxus's room, she concluded that rather than having friends, she would rather just stick with her 'family.'

* * *

A/N- The above scene was going to be the...prelude to the bottom scene but...stuff happened and then, everything was going to be messed and I'd rather not give myself a headache, thank you very much.

The bottom scene never happened. It was just an idea that I destroyed but I might as well upload to have reasons for my...lack of update. And also, to be nice since I just gave you all that short short short nothing important scene... But remember: next scene NEVER happened in the story. It was just an IDEA.

* * *

**Lesson Four - Making Friends (Is Not That Easy...)**

* * *

"I'm Spanner. Nice to meet you. I'm here to take Zero."

Squalo blinked at the unknown blonde boy. Without thinking, he slammed the door closed. Slowly, he turned to yell out for the one who always gets him stressed...

**"VOOOOOOOOOIIII!!!! ZEROOOOOOOOOO!!! WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO NOW?!"**

Silence answered him back but Squalo knew better and waited.

It didn't take long until a small voice was heard.

"...Zero not here. Out on mission. Gone for long long long time."

Squalo felt his eye twitch. She was never able to go long without replying in some way or another. Her voice came from somewhere near... In the closet--

"There you are you little brat..." growled Squalo. "Out on a mission, my ass!!" Squalo reached inside the closet and grabbed the girl, who was trying to bat his hands away. "Hold still... There!" Squalo dragged the girl outside and lifted her up to eye level. "Now... Who the fuck is that outside?"

Zero looked around the room. She moved and set her eyes on everything except Squalo. Squalo started to get annoyed and shook her.

"Don't fucking ignore me!!" He walked back to the door and reached for the handle.

Then the door fell.

Squalo stared. Zero was biting at his arm. He punched her head but continued looking at the fallen door.

"...what the hell?"

The blonde haired boy from before appeared from the side and looked at the door thoughtfully then looked at what was in his hand.

...

...

...

The boy had a bomb in his hand.

Squalo stared.

The boy stared.

Zero wriggled in Squalo's grip, trying to get away.

He smacked her head to keep her still and continued to ignore her for the boy in front of him. Squalo asked him in a deadpan voice, "What the fuck were you just going to do?"

The boy blinked, unfazed. Squalo would have been impressed if it wasn't for the fact that the boy still held a **bomb** in his hand.

"I was deciding to use this or just take the door apart to open it... I kind of wish I used the bomb to test it out..."

Squalo, not wanting to deal with this, turned back around and yelled out for someone--ANYONE-- to come down to the front door.

Surprisingly, it was Levi who came. He must have been really bored. There were no more missions for him. The rest for the others which needed specific qualities to be completed...

Levi walked down the stairs to answer Squalo's call and as soon as he blinked, he ended up with Zero in his arms and Squalo telling him to not let go of her, leaving with a mission paper in his hands.

He blinked. All of that happened in at least ten seconds. Then, he looked down when he felt a tug on his pants.

He looked down to see a blonde patch of hair. For a split second, he thought it was Bel but realized there was no tiara on his head.

The boy looked at him with his hands out.

"That girl is mine."

Levi blinked. He had a bad feeling with this one... Then again, he had a bad feeling with all the kids in his life.

"Who are you?"

The boy sighed in what seemed to be slight annoyance. He had a...straight face on the entire time.

"I'm Spanner and she," he pointed at Zero. "Said she would be mine."

Levi blinked again.

Slowly, he turned to Zero, who was struggling in his arms, trying to get loose. She seemed a bit...frightened of the boy. Levi turned back to the boy. He thought of what to say.

...what could he say?

"Ummm," he started. "Why did she say that?"

The boy--Spanner-- stared at him with that...face, again. "She said she would be mine in exchange for lollipops. I gave her half my supply. She's mine."

* * *

A/N- And I stopped here. See how much I had to take out from last chapter? It was going to be one of the 'lesson' chapters and (most likely) a part of the previous chapter but Spanner appearing now would have ruined what I planned for the future... That's right. I **planned**. XD

But I love Spanner. And he will definitely meet up with Zero. ...just not in the close future. Pretty far future...

That's it.

Not an update. Sorry about that. I raised your hopes up and then, completely obliterated it with this...

Oh well.

Stay warm!


	13. Pieces

A/N- Can't exactly call this a chapter... I put in a few symbolism/symbols but I doubt anyone will get them... This 'chapter' is more of a series of...puzzle pieces where you, as the reader, gets to put it together!! Aren't you lucky?

...don't kill me...

Most of the dialogue is for you to figure out who's saying who. Although, in these pieces, it might be hard 'cause I was trying to go for another side to their personalities...

* * *

Disclaimer - I own Zero. That's it.

* * *

_A crack on the ice._

_The sound of splitting._

_Water dripped on the ground._

_The feel of extreme heat..._

_"Welcome back..." _

* * *

**First Piece - Welcoming Party**

* * *

Zero ran.

The others only blinked in slight surprise.

It was raining and the sound of thunder filled the silence of the room. Each was doing their own thing to kill time. The pitter patter of water on the roof made a rhythm with the howling wind...

And then, all of a sudden, the only female of the Varia stood up and ran out of said-room.

Squalo would then rise from his own seat to follow after her, mumbling about the trouble she causes. He still took care of her, even though there were so many moments he wanted to drop her off at an orphanage. But he didn't because he was still her guardian--

His thoughts stopped as he reached the front door.

Turned out he didn't have to follow her far.

Lightning flashed in the background.

He watched as the door was swung open and under the entrance, stood an all-too-familiar man, drenched in water.

He watched as she wrapped her arms around the man's neck, her back turned to him.

He watched as she tucked her head under his chin; he could see her mouth moving but heard nothing.

He watched as the man mussed her hair with a look of...something unfamiliar.

Squalo walked up to the man. He asked no questions. Instead, he looked at the man with a composed look and gave a small wave in greeting.

"Yo..."

The man turned his attention to Squalo and looked straight at his eyes as he muttered out--

"...scum."

* * *

**Second Piece - Knowing/Getting/Feeling**

* * *

Zero carefully grazed his scars.

She wanted to touch, hug, kiss and clutch onto him as if he was her lifeline but she wouldn't dare. Xanxus was the only one she would never casually touch, at least, not without permission. She would never overstep her boundaries.

Before, she was sure that he let her do what she wanted to humor her but now, that his mind frame was set, just doing touching--softly, lightly--him like this, was enough for her.

It was late into the night.

Of course there was a commotion. Levi cried. Lussuria sang (and then got pummeled to the ground). Bel smiled his wide grin. Mammon sighed and only shook his head. Squalo...was Squalo. He disappeared soon after but she never noticed.

Xanxus was the only thing in her mind.

She knew that he would never show weakness, especially in front of his subordinates. He wanted to collapse and lie there but he had too much pride for that. He only glared at them all and walked up the stairs to his room, bringing Zero, who was still clutching onto him, along.

His room was never touched. Everything was left the way it was. Zero cleaned it. If a maid had entered his room, she killed the poor woman herself.

As soon as the door was closed, he slumped down to the floor and watched as Zero's eyes turned red.

He reached out his hand and placed it behind her head. He pulled her closer to him. He placed his forehead on hers. He didn't say anything and just stayed that way.

Zero waited for a few minutes to pass. Once she heard his heartbeat slowdown, she knew he was...not asleep, because he would never sleep first, but just dozing off...

Either way, he was going to get a cold...

Zero knew there was no way she could carry him but she had to get him warmed up. She moved to get up but Xanxus kept his grip on her. She blinked and bit her lips. She wasn't the best person to come to for warmth...

"Xanxus..." she whispered softly. "Clothes..." They were still soaked.

"Leave 'em..." he grunted.

Zero nodded. She took to studying him. There were...details that she wasn't familiar with... His scars... Permanent scars...

"...Xanxus...can? ...touch you?"

He didn't give a definite answer, just a small 'Hm,' but he wasn't rejecting her so she did as she pleased.

Skimming along the sides of his hair, she placed her hands on his face. He felt cold, clammy and wet but she was glad; so glad that this wasn't a dream.

"Xanxus," she said once more, as she let her arms drop and let out a small yawn. "So much...to tell...you..."

Soon, she fell into a dream and Xanxus followed after.

* * *

**Third Piece - Reactions**

* * *

"Really happy, isn't she?" asked Bel, rhetorically. Zero was with Xanxus and Xanxus was in his room. "Wonder what they're doing..." He turned to see Levi, who was vowing and making other impossible promises of loyalty. "...and he's so happy that he's crying..."

"What's going to happen now, I wonder?" the young prince mused as he twirled a knife. Lussuria was in the kitchen, making something in 'celebration,' not that others were complaining...

Mammon gave him a small glance to show that he was paying attention as he took a spoonful of pudding to his mouth.

"Something will eventually."

Bel hummed in response then, he looked around.

"Where's Squalo?"

"How should I know?"

Bel shrugged his shoulders. He started to change the subject back to the one at hand.

"...it's been awhile though. Is it going to change or stay the same?"

Mammon didn't ask what Bel meant by 'it'-- 'it' was...everything. The lives they've been living until now, the goals they had. The mystery of Xanxus' escape from the ice...

"...I did some checking."

"Oh? Snooping isn't something you would normally do."

Mammon sent a glare towards Bel but only left it at that as he continued.

"At the place where the Boss was frozen...there were burn marks."

"...burn marks? The ice was melted?" Bel was honestly surprised. They tried melting the ice a long time ago... "What could have done that?" They also tried a variety of ways to melt it so he was curious.

Mammon stayed silent, thinking.

Lussuria entered the room with wine glasses and a bottle of liquor. He poured some out for himself and gave some to Bel and Mammon.

When Lussuria was asked about his thoughts about the awakening of their boss, he replied with:

"Aren't we going to take over the Vongola again?"

"...are we?"

"What do you think?"

* * *

**Fourth Piece - Actions**

* * *

Squalo looked out a window. It was just on the verge of being morning now and he didn't sleep nor get even a small nap.

He wasn't tired. He didn't really feel anything. Just...mellow.

It was the first morning after a long time that he didn't find Zero in his bed. Of course he wouldn't. The main actor was re-introduced and the extras were only there to support him.

He let out a dry chuckle.

"What the hell..."

He continued watching the sunrise glow.

A small creak caught his attention. Familiar shuffling came closer to him. He didn't need three guesses to know who that was. Being with her for...seven, eight years made everything she did sound familiar to him.

Wordlessly, she jumped and wrapped her arms around his head, each of her leg hanging off his shoulders.

"What? Here to bother me?"

"Xanxus sleeping..."

Ah...of course. He scoffed.

"So it's okay to bother me?"

Zero made no reply and placed her chin over the top of his head to get comfortable. He said nothing and neither did she.

The red glow was starting to hurt his eyes and he had to look away to the side. Zero continued on staring at the light.

He thought of Xanxus and wondered if this was cause for a party but knowing Lussuria, it wouldn't have mattered a party would have happened regardless of anyone's complaints...well, maybe Xanxus' complaints would shut him up...

"...**are** we supposed to celebrate?" he wondered out loud. What difference would it make? Did it make a difference? Why did it seem like it made a difference...

"Drinking party?" offered Zero as she started to play with Squalo's hair. She wondered if she should grow out her own hair...

Squalo barked out a laugh.

"Fuck no. Last time was bad enough." By last time, he meant a week ago when the Varia members decided to get rip-roaring drunk, all because of Bel's careless words wondering who could get drunk first, and regret the consequences later. It turns out alcohol didn't affect Zero. It did make her haywire though... Needless to say, it was a stupid idea and everyone was too hung over to do any work (in Zero's case, she couldn't even stay still to eat; yeah, that's bad it was). Enough said.

She pouted. She liked having rocket-power speed... It made her extremely sick but she thought it was worth it.

"Squalo..."

He blinked. She used his name in full. That usually meant she was serious...

"What?"

Zero leaned over enough to whisper into his ears.

Squalo stood still. He didn't react and stood still, his eyes back to the blinding light. He only let out a sigh and looked down slightly.

"Yeah... I know."

"Love Xanxus more."

He knew that too.

"What do you want me to say?"

"Nothing."

"Tch...stupid girl."

Such a stupid girl. Don't fall or give—for any of the Varia because they as sure as hell can't do the same.

"Bel too. And Mammon and Levi and Lussuria..."

Seeing as she used their full names, Squalo realized that she wasn't going to fool around anytime soon...

"Why the hell for? None of us cares for each other. If any of us ever fails at a mission, we get killed off."

"I know."

"Xanxus might tell you to kill us." Not that she could kill them all; but she was sly and she never had a fear of killing or even guilt for that matter.

"I know."

And he also knew that she would (at least try to) kill any of them because to her, Xanxus' words were law. She would never fail him...she would kill herself before that happened.

Zero jumped off his shoulders.

"Xanxus' waking."

"Hah. You could tell?"

And Zero walked away.

* * *

**Fifth Piece - Order**

* * *

Zero held up her half of the ring. It was a funny looking shape.

"_Nuvola: _The one that cannot be caught and goes on its own way...' Matches you pretty well, huh?"

Zero turned to acknowledge the new voice. "Prince."

Bel gave her a small wave back. "Mammon told me about it. We all have one." He held up his hand. "But I have to admit, I don't understand a few of the meanings. How is Levi even close to _Fulmine_?"

Zero held up her ring, once more.

"The ring...is connected to Xanxus, right?"

Bel tilted his head.

"I suppose so. Is the Boss so important to you?"

Zero stayed silent.

"What is you like about the Boss?"

Zero blinked.

"Everything, of course."

"What the heck? Doesn't that mean you can't think of anything?"

Zero stood up.

"I'm...going to go to Xanxus..."

Bel frowned as she disappeared.

"'Xanxus. Xanxus, Xanxus, Xanxus...'" he repeated. "That's all I'm hearing from her nowadays... I think I'm jealous; what about you, Lussuria?"

Lussuria walked out under the lights of the living room from the balcony.

"...what do you think the order is?"

"Hmm? What order?"

"Zero has a list of people who she deems more important over others. What do you think that is?"

Bel cocked his head.

"Boss is first."

"Of course."

"Second is either me or Squalo."

"Oh? How do you know that?"

"Zero always goes along with whatever I say. I'm the prince, afterall. She's followed my words for years, you know?"

"Yes...I remember."

"Maybe I'm above Squalo..."

"Do you think Zero believes herself to be human?"

"I have a hard time believing she's human."

"In all seriousness, I think she puts herself on the bottom of her list."

"Why's that?"

"Haven't you noticed? No matter what it is, whatever mission or order she gets, no matter how unreasonable it is, she does it whether or not she gets injured."

* * *

**Sixth Piece - Present**

* * *

"What is it?"

"It's for Zero."

"Like I didn't know that from the first time; what is it?"

"A robot."

"Why does Zero get cool things?"

"It's a life-sucking robot."

"...yeah, she can have it."

"Wait, wait, wait! Doesn't that mean she'll die?"

"I'm surprised she hasn't died yet. She'll be fine."

"Squalo, you seem very calm nowadays. Did you find your teddy bear in pieces? You shouldn't keep a sword near you while sleeping."

"What teddy bear?!"

"Now, now... Calm down."

"I was already calm until this brat started mouthing off again!"

"Why does Zero get a present from the Boss?"

"Are you still moping about that?"

"Mammon... I thought you realized that Levi is a hopeless case and will end up single for the rest of his life because he has a Boss-complex. All you can do to help him is to ignore him."

"Hey! What was that, Bel?!"

"Shishishi... Exactly what I said."

"Back to the robot, where did it come from?"

"The Boss got it from somewhere. Probably same place he got Zero..."

"Why does a robot need another robot?"

"Zero isn't a robot...is she?"

"You're stupid, Levi."

"What was that?!"

"Why would the Boss give Zero a life-sucking machine?"

"Squalo would probably know."

"Don't ask me anything."

"Is that mine?"

"Oh, Zero! When did you get here?"

"Just now."

"You know, I noticed something... How come her grammar became so much better now?"

"Xanxus gave it to me?"

"She completely ignored me..."

"Like I said, ignoring you is the best anyone can do for you."

"...hmmm... Okay. Yeah. I get it."

"Huh? What did you get? And—h-hey! Where are you going?"

"To eat. I haven't eaten for awhile."

"I think that might have been her longest record without food."

"What's this thing called again?"

"Gola Mosca. Why?"

"Gola Mosca, huh? ...kinda suits her."

"What?"

Squalo sighed.

"Nothing."

* * *

**Seventh Piece – Start**

* * *

Lussuria looked around the room and then, went to the next room and did the same thing.

Mammon, noticing this, asked him what he was looking for.

"Zero. I haven't seen her for awhile... In fact, I haven't seen her since we were talking about Gola Mosca. That was almost a week ago..."

"Ah. I'll tell you if you pay me."

"You know where she is?"

"I know a lot of things," Mammon replied, curtly. No shame at all...

Lussuria pursed his lips. "Weeell... I don't really need her... I'm just curious as to where she went."

"I know where she we~ent!" Bel was on the staircase with his usual grin.

Mammon frowned at his appearance. Bel ignored this and continued on.

"She went to Japan."

Lussuria looked confused. "Japan? What for?"

"Squalo and her are getting the other half of the rings from some guy going to Japan. Ah but Zero left before Squalo so the two are probably separated."

This time Mammon took on a confused look. He knew that she went to Japan but why did they need to send Squalo too?

"Why are two of them needed?"

Bel shrugged his shoulders.

"Like I know what the Boss is thinking. One of them probably has another mission."

Bel started walking down the stairs and for each step he took, his grin grew wider.

"It's going to start," he said.

The other two didn't need to ask anything as to what was going to start.

Lussuria sighed and placed a hand to his face.

"It seems so soon."

"But you knew it was coming ever since the Boss came back."

"Shishishi... He's not one to forgive and forget. This time, the others will be forced to look at Boss as the Vongola's _Decimo_."

"So, from that, I'm guessing Levi is with Boss?"

"Yup! Oh, and I was told to get you guys. We're having a meeting."

Lussuria sighed once more.

"It's getting so empty nowadays..."

* * *

**Pieces – End.**

**Continue?**

**Yes or No?**

* * *

**Next time: Pre-Ring**

* * *

A/N- Yooo... Been a long time, huh?

Sorry... Even though I implied that I would update during Easter...whatever. I got it here! The next chapter (actual chapter) should be up pretty soon since I worked on that...for a long time.

If this...chapter was confusing, well... I can't really say much to that. It was supposed to be cut and dry.

Anywoo, thank you to everyone who's still been here with me so far.

The long-awaited ring battles will be coming up! As well as the other arcs, though I don't think I'll put in the anime filler arc (the Arcobaleno trials); I could but I'd rather get the Future over with. Hahaha...

Thank you for reading.

Stay warm!


	14. PreRing I: Introduction

Disclaimer- I don't own anything.

* * *

_"No worries, worries no! Little insane. Little just... Worries no, no worries..."_

* * *

**Eighth Year- Friends, Enemies, Allies**

* * *

She was always smiling.

No matter what happened. She was always smiling. Whether she was hit by a soccer ball to the face or 'bitten to death' by Hibari-san or shoved aside when she was at the entrance or when she tripped over a rock...

She was always smiling.

Her eyes were always half-opened.

And she wore...what was it called again?

"Hey, look! Waloli's back!"

Yamamoto looked at the window and pointed at the little girl. He let out a laugh and said something but Tsuna drowned him out with his own thoughts.

The nameless girl was called 'Waloli' by everyone in school because of her clothes. ..._wa lolita_... Tsuna never understood fashion trends but he was sure he's never seen anyone wear clothes like that. It was pretty much a kimono except it was styled to be a petticoat with all shades of blue. The girl was really small. She could be a younger sister waiting for her older sibling but if she had them, he's never seen them. Tsuna always left before she did.

Tsuna wondered who she was.

It's been a little over a week and it was strange at first, but everyone was soon able to get used to it. Of course Hibari was pretty angry with a trespasser on school grounds before classes were over and Tsuna always thought that Hibari wasn't the kind of person to beat up little kids but apparently, this one was different.

There was a movement too fast to be seen that Tsuna missed it 'cause he blinked but before he knew it Waloli was on the ground, facedown after Hibari was through with her. Someone thought that an ambulance should be called but after Hibari left, Waloli stood up and stayed as she was with the same smile on her face.

A lot of students weren't sure of what to do but Yamamoto, the happy-go-lucky (brave) one out of everyone, went up to her and asked if she was alright. Tsuna and Gokudera followed after him.

She was really cute...like an abandoned animal kind of way. She had black hair, similar to Yamamoto, with a pale complexion. She looked as fragile as a China doll. Hibari didn't hit her face since no visible swelling or bruises were seen. Actually, they weren't sure where Hibari actually hit her... She seemed perfectly fine. Maybe it was the trick of the light? Surely Hibari wasn't as cruel as to actually a kid?

The girl gave them her usual smile. She nodded and tilted her head to look past Yamamoto and straight into Tsuna's eyes.

He was taken back a bit. Her eyes opened fully to see him. Almost as if she was memorizing him... They were completely void of...everything. Tsuna had a strange feeling creep up within him. Her eyes were either black or a very dark grey... He couldn't tell.

That was how they first 'met.'

No introductions were given but that was it. The days passed by and time continued on.

When the trio pass the entrance, they said hi to Waloli and today was no different.

Yamamoto was first.

"Yo, Waloli! How are you?" He was friendly as usual. He rubbed her head affectionately. She, as usual, gave no reply but gave him a bigger smile. "Waiting for someone as usual?" She nodded. He continued grinning. "Don't stay out too late, 'kay? Or Hibari might come." The word Hibari was used as if he was the boogie-monster. Yamamoto patted her head once more before saying bye.

Gokudera gave her a small 'hey.' She didn't bother him or the Tenth so he didn't bother her-- neutral relationship. Waloli smiled and nodded.

Tsuna hesitated. He felt something off. Maybe it was his imagination but he felt like something was going to happen. Something big... He wasn't sure when or how but he's had this feeling ever since he first saw her...

The girl blinked at him. Tsuna blinked back and rubbed his head sheepishly. What was he thinking? Reborn was starting to get to him... Speaking of Reborn, when Tsuna told him of the little girl, Reborn always stopped the conversation and quickly changed topics. Tsuna thought it was weird but didn't think much about it...

The girl was staring at him with those eyes again. Inquisitive, perceptive, light-sucking eyes... Maybe light-sucking wasn't the right word but Tsuna felt like it matched. There were days when he swore her eyes were red and then, the next day, they turned back to its original dark colour. It was odd... Her entire appearance showed as if she was just a small girl about Futa's age but her eyes always made him uneasy. They made her look older than she appeared to be.

Awkwardly, Tsuna gave her a small wave as he walked past her. He could feel her eyes on him as he turned his back on her.

Yamamoto started talking about events coming up at school and Gokudera argued--one-sidedly-- while Tsuna was off in dreamland once more.

What was this...feeling he had? This...not-so good feeling.

"Tenth? Are you okay?"

Huh? Tsuna looked up to see both Gokudera and Yamamoto staring at him with worry.

"Eh? A-Ah! Yeah. I'm fine! Why do you ask?"

Yamamoto pointed and replied. "You're holding your hand across your stomach as if you're sick. Did you eat something bad?"

"Was it my sister's cooking? This is bad! We have to go a hospital right now!"

Tsuna waved his hands frantically. "No! No! I'm fine! I'm fine! Just...uh... thinking!"

Yamamoto laughed. "Haha! I see. You had a really serious expression on her face, you know? Are you worrying about a future test?"

Tsuna scratched one side of his head. "Uh... Not really... but I've been thinking... That girl...er... Waloli... Umm...what do you think?"

Both Gokudera and Yamamoto blinked. The Waloli? That was pretty random.

"It's been...a week or so, hasn't it? Wow, only a week..." Yamamoto mused.

"What's wrong Tenth? Is she bothering you! I knew you couldn't just easily pass over a stranger who came out of nowhere! All enemies do that! She might still be there! Let's go back! We have to take this chance to blow her up--"

"G-Gokudera-_kun_! That's too extreme! I just asked what your thoughts were about her!"

The rebellious-looking boy flushed and calmed down. "A-ah... Whatever you say, Tenth!"

Tsuna sighed with weariness but continued on with his question. "So... what are your thoughts?"

Yamamoto went first.

"She's cute, isn't she? And she seems like a really good girl; waiting for her sibling every day."

Tsuna looked away for a second and a drop of sweat rolled down. A typical Yamamoto-response...

Gokudera, not going to be beaten by Yamamoto, replied, "I never really thought anything of her."

...then what was that talk about blowing her up? thought Tsuna.

Their responses weren't exactly...comforting? Was that the word? Comforting of what? Tsuna wasn't sure...

Yamamoto, noticing Tsuna's behavior, thought of a plan.

"Hey, you wanna go somewhere tomorrow?"

"Eh?"

"We'll bring everyone along!"

"Eh?"

"Okay, it's decided. Let's all meet at your house Tsuna!"

"**Eh?**"

"Good idea, baseball freak! I'll definitely be there, Tenth!"

...and they left...just like that...

"...do I not get a say in anything anymore?" mumbled Tsuna, as he too walked off to his own home, where he was attacked by Lambo and then, attacked by Reborn who found one of his failed tests that Tsuna swore he hid well inside a plastic bag which was inside a metal box under his bed...

Tsuna went to sleep sore and forgot about his worries for the day.

* * *

...his forgotten worries came back as soon as Tsuna woke up, this time with a feeling worse than the previous day.

He didn't know how he knew but it was today. The day that something bad was going to happen starts with today.

The voice of his mother brought him out of his thoughts.

"Tsu-_kun_! Your friends are here!"

Quickly, Tsuna got up from his bed and gathered up his clothes. He ran out of his room and down the stairs to see Reborn at the foot of the stairs.

"Are you ready?"

Tsuna blinked. Reborn asked that as if he knew what was going to come. Like back with Rokudo Mukuro... Another trial?

Nononononono! Tsuna shook his head in disagreement. He had to stop thinking like this! They were mafia thoughts! And there was no way, that he will ever be part of the mafia!

Reborn continued. "Hurry up! We're leaving!"

"But! My breakfast!"

"The early bird gets the worm. I told _Maman_ that you weren't hungry," said Reborn with no hint of pity.

S-so cruel... Before Tsuna could retort back, a voice stopped him.

"Good morning, Tsuna-_san_! Haru came to see you!"

Tsuna blinked and took a second to process what just happened. Haru was standing in front of him with a wide smile on her face. Why was she here? Did they have something planned? Oh wait, that's right... An outing was planned with everyone...

"Ha-Haru! Hi..." Behind her was Kyoko. "Kyoko-_chan_! G-good morning!"

"Un!" She smiled and repeated his greeting. Before Tsuna realized that it was Kyoko, his crush/love/girlfriend-that-doesn't-yet-know-that-she's-his-girlfriend, was in his house, a loud voice interrupted his train of thought.

"TENTH! GOOD MORNING!"

Tsuna didn't need three guesses as to who the voice belonged to...

"Good morning, Gokudera-_kun_..." He cried inwardly as Kyoko went with Haru to pick up Lambo and I-pin who were running around, chasing each other.

Tsuna looked around to see someone missing. Where was Yamamoto--

"Yo!"

Ah, there he was with Waloli--

Eh? Waloli?

Haru appeared beside the newcomer. "Yamamoto-_san_, who is this?" asked Haru.

"Ah!" said Kyoko, with recognition as well as Lambo in her arms. "Is this Waloli-_chan_?"

Tsuna blinked.

Eh? What? Before he knew it, the entrance way to his house was very crowded...

Yamamoto let out a laugh. "I was on my way here when I saw her. Do you guys mind if we bring her along?" He had a hand on Waloli's head.

"Oi, baseball-idiot! Who do you think are? You can't pick up random strangers and tell them to do whatever you want!" Gokudera said.

"Ah, but I asked and she followed me. Isn't that right, Waloli?" Yamamoto said with a smile.

"Eh? Your name is Waloli? Nice to meet you! My name is Haru!"

Yamamoto blinked. "Oh. That reminds me. We never actually got your name, did we? ("Eh? Waloli isn't your name?" cried out Haru.)" He let out an embarrassed laugh. "Sorry! All this time we've just been calling you Waloli... Sorry again! What's your name?"

'Waloli' blinked and gave the taller boy a smile.

"Zero," she said. "Name is mine."

* * *

This was supposed to be a day where he would enjoy the day with his friends but every time his eyes laid over Waloli—er—Zero, he had this numbing feeling in his stomach.

Tsuna had to snap out of this rut... It was going to be unhealthy. The group only left the house a couple of hours ago. It was a good day and he was ruining said-day with his own negativity. Zero hasn't done anything. She's been fine and less of a troublemaker than Lambo.

...speaking of Lambo, where did he go?

"Ne, ne! _Onee-san_!"

Tsuna didn't have to look far as he watched the cow-wannabe tug on Zero's skirt.

Zero blinked. _Onee-san_...that meant...sister, right? Sister? She's...a sister? Wow. That's the first time someone called her a sister. She was...well...she wasn't sure what to feel. She felt surprised for sure but now she felt a bit...happy? Yeah...

She studied the little cow-print wearing boy.

He was cute. He wore little miniature horns on his head. He had extremely curly hair. She wondered if he was able to hide things in it and if he was...how does he take a shower or a bath? He was small too. So small. Smaller than her! She wondered if she was that small when she was his age. She was sure he was younger than her. Oh but Mammon was small too but Bel told her that he was much older than he appeared. Maybe this boy was the same? But he didn't seem very old...he just acted like a normal baby...if she knew what a normal baby was and--

Lambo pouted. All she did was stare at him! Weird! But...Lambo-_san_ was the greatest, so maybe that's why she was staring at him? Admiring him? That reason was fine with him.

Zero blinked again, realizing that she was taking too much time thinking and opened her mouth.

"Yes? Want...something?"

"Hmmm... Lambo-_san_ wants a ride!" He asked her this because...well, in his own way, he did want to get to know the new girl in their group. That and he actually didn't feel like walking anymore and she was closest to him.

Zero blinked again.

"Okay," she said.

"Lambo! Don't bother her!" said Tsuna, coming up from behind the duo. "Sorry Zero...er--_san_," he added the suffix at the last moment. He had this odd feeling that she wasn't as she appeared to be. He continued. He didn't want her to be distressed. "You don't have to do anything you don't like...if you don't want to!" He gave her a small smile.

Zero stared at Tsuna.

Hmmm... Zero..._san_? That was used for...politeness? As far as she remembered, no one was really 'polite' with her. She just did as she was told...

Like she did with Lambo, she studied Tsuna. He had...gravity-defying hair. He was pretty short too but still taller than herself. Actually, she would have been very surprised if he wasn't taller than her. Not a lot of people were smaller than her. Babies didn't exactly count. Tsuna was...nice. He was...always concerned with everyone and their...wants? Likes? She wasn't sure.

And then, another deeper, darker thought creeped into her mind.

_Maybe if she just guts him now--_

Tsuna started to sweat bullets as all Zero did was stare at him. He wondered if he said anything wrong...

Zero realized that she was thinking too much about nothing. Everything will come to be when it comes.

"It's...fine," she answered. Then, she motioned for Tsuna to lean down. He gave her a confused look. She smiled and continued beckoning him to come down.

Still confused, he did as she requested.

He felt her lips on his cheek for a split second and then, she smiled at him once more before turning to Lambo to give him a ride. Lambo squealed and clambered to her head when she bent down low enough for him to jump on.

Tsuna stood up straight with his mouth open. S-she kissed him! Not on the mouth but still! AAAGH! Why was he overreacting about a kiss from a pre-schooler!

...wait.

Was she a pre-schooler?

...she was...pretty mature for her age...

Before he could think some more, he heard a very familiar voice from behind him.

"AAAAAAH! Tsuna-_san_ got kissed! Not fair! Haru wants to give one to Tsuna-_san_ too!"

Haru was clenching her fists and shaking her head in a comical way. Tsuna felt sweat beading down his forehead as he watched her continue to pin over the small peck on the cheek.

Zero ignored the background noises and turned to the other little girl. I-pin was it? She looked around for the Chinese girl.

Once she set her eyes on the small girl, she walked over. She held out her hand.

"Ride?"

Lambo made noises of protest but Zero still kept her hand out for I-pin.

I-pin stared. She was getting nervous but the older girl only kept on staring at her with unblinking eyes. She still didn't know much about Zero but...she seemed nice. At least, nice enough to offer a ride...

I-pin placed her hand on top of the offering hand.

Zero smiled and lifted her over to her head but realized Lambo took that spot so... She didn't know what to do. Zero blinked. Maybe she should put the girl on her shoulder but would that be comfortable? ...meh. She placed her on her shoulder.

Lambo stuck his tongue out at I-pin and I-pin became mad and said something in Chinese and Lambo retorted back with something else and I-pin continued speaking in Chinese and Zero was getting dizzy.

Tsuna wondered if she was going to be alright... The kids were practically screaming directly into her ears. He watched Zero tilt her head left when Lambo screamed into her right ear and tilt back to the right when I-pin screamed in her left ear.

...great, now he felt bad. He really shouldn't have let her take the kids. Before he could walk over to help her, Yamamoto was already there. Eh? Wasn't he behind him with Gokudera...?

"You want some help?"

Zero turned towards her would-be helper.

Oh. It was...the tall guy. Well, the tallest out of their group. He was nice too. And very friendly. It was the first time she met someone like him. He was always smiling too. Was he hiding something like herself or was he smiling because he actually felt happy? He was weird... He was the one to first say hi to her and invite her along on their outing...

She smiled back at him.

He **was** nice. She thought this before but this described him very well. He was nice.

Lambo stared at Yamamoto and decided that since he's taller, the view would be better from his head.

"Gimme a ride!" demanded Lambo to Yamamoto.

Zero blinked and offered the little boy to Yamamoto, who took him off her head. I-pin then scrambled to Lambo's previous spot.

"Bleh! I'm taller than you, I-pin!"

Yamamoto let out a laugh.

* * *

The group went to arcades, shops, boutiques, etc., until they decided to stop for a break.

Reborn was analyzing the girl who newly joined--what he liked to call-- Tsuna's family outing. He had a bad feeling about this one. She wasn't what she seemed... He went through his memories, trying to remember anything relating a girl named Zero. He was pretty sure he's heard of her before but when and where...

"Yosh! Here you go, Zero!"

Yamamoto lifted up Zero and placed her on his shoulders. "View's much better there, right?"

She nodded with a smile.

"You don't really talk a lot, huh?" He turned to face the group. "Hey guys! I'm just gonna walk for a bit! I'll be back!" As he turned back, he almost tripped. "Whoa! Hahaha! Hold on tight!"

Yamamoto and Zero walked further on, Tsuna sweatdropped. "They're already getting along really well..." It was hard not to get along with Yamamoto...well, except for Gokudera...who was currently arguing with Haru about where they should go next...

After Zero introduced herself, everyone did the same. She had trouble speaking and had a foreign accent to it. It sounded a lot like Italian but he was just imagining things, right? All the Italians he knew usually tried to kill Tsuna at first sight... There's no way a little girl like her could be an assassin, right? Wait... I-Pin is an assassin too! And Lambo--

"You're too slow, No-good Tsuna," said Reborn, as he kicked Tsuna behind his knee, causing him to buckle and collapse.

"Auugh!" Tsuna face-planted straight onto pavement.

There was also Reborn who was the acclaimed best assassin... Not to mention, that girl's eyes... There was something off about them... They didn't seem real...

"Tsuna-_kun_, are you alright?"

Tsuna looked up to see Kyoko, standing over him with a worried look on her face. She held out her hand for him.

Ah, Kyoko-_chan_! I'm holding her hand... thought Tsuna, happily. He gave her a smile. "I'm fine... Just tripped on a...rock..." He glanced at where Reborn once was to glare at him but he disappeared.

In a strange way, Tsuna thought that maybe Reborn did care about him; cared to give him this opportunity--

Kyoko smiled and stood beside him. Tsuna blushed.

"Do you want to sit down?" asked Kyoko.

"Eh? Me? A-ah... Sure..."

Kyoko held onto her drink. "Ne... Tsuna-_kun_. It was really fun today."

Tsuna smiled and nodded. "Yeah... Thanks for coming--"

"TSUNA!"

Tsuna almost cried as his alone time with Kyoko was cut short. He let out a deep sigh. "What is it, Lambo?"

"Carry me! Like that!" He pointed towards the retreating back of Yamamoto with Zero still on his shoulders. He was smiling pretty widely and talked away. Was it just him or did Yamamoto look happier than usual? But then, again, he was always smiling so it's hard to believe he could get gladder...

"Stupid Tsuna! Loser Tsuna! No-good Tsuna!" Lambo pestered.

Tsuna gave a groan but brought Lambo over his head, causing Lambo to squeal happily.

"Move, Tsuna! Move!"

Tsuna sighed and stood up. He looked at Kyoko who only smiled and told him to have fun.

"Lambo selfish!" said I-Pin.

Lambo stuck his tongue out at her. "I-Pin's just jealous!"

Tsuna gave another sigh as Lambo and I-Pin argued. Same as usual... Except for that feeling he had in the morning. It was still there even when he was sure he convinced himself that he was imagining things. It was bothering him for awhile. It was almost clenching at his stomach... Maybe he should ask Reborn about it...

Speaking of Reborn, where did he go?

A little further away, he spied a small figure dressed in black standing next to Yamamoto.

"Yamamoto, give me a lift."

Eeeh? Reborn was up ahead to where Yamamoto and Zero were. He's asking him for a ride when he's already giving someone else one?

But Yamamoto laughed. "Sure, kid! Hop on! You don't mind, do you, Zero?"

Zero blinked and pointed to herself. "Get off?"

"Eh? Ah! No, you don't have to! I'm pretty strong, you know?" Yamamoto crouched down for Reborn to jump up and once he did, Zero jumped down. "Ah, Zero! You could still stay on."

Zero continued pointing to herself. "Heavy...right? And...walking good."

Yamamoto smiled at her response. "Well, if that makes you happy."

Reborn sat on the taller boy's shoulder. He looked down to Zero and started asking her questions.

"You haven't been in Japan for a long time, have you?"

Zero gave him a confused look and slowly thought things through. She had a hard time understanding Japanese. That was why she only listened to Yamamoto as he talked; trying her best to understand. After a few minutes, Zero shook her head saying 'no' and gave no more answer than that.

Reborn fired questions like dying-will bullets. "Where were you from? How old are you? What school do you go to? What's your family name? How long have you been here? Where do you live? Do you know--"

Zero swayed from left to right, trying to concentrate on the words. Too confusing...

Yamamoto, noticing this, gave a sheepish laugh. "_Maa_, _maa_... I think she's going to get a headache soon. I don't think she completely understood the questions I asked her either."

Zero's mouth made a squiggle shape. She was definitely confused. Yamamoto let out a small laugh at her expense.

Zero blinked and patted his hand and tugged on his sleeve, motioning him to crouch down. He blinked back and did as she wanted.

"What is it--"

Chu.

Yamamoto blinked again, this time in surprise.

Zero quickly ran off to where the others were. She jumped onto Tsuna and knocked him over, knocking Lambo off his head, causing a mass panic with Gokudera who came back yelling about the Tenth and Haru and Kyoko ran over to Tsuna to see if he was alright. Lambo started crying and I-pin started to panic and people were starting to stare and--

"Such a simple thing turned complicated again," said Reborn as he chuckled. Yamamoto was still frozen in place. "It's not that big of a deal, you know... It was only a peck on the cheek; Tsuna got one too."

Yamamoto blinked but was able to shake himself out of it long enough to say, "A-ah... Yeah! Haha! That's right... Wonder why I froze..." He looked over at the commotion that his friends were making. He laughed, "Looks like fun. We should join in!"

Reborn nodded and Yamamoto ran towards the group but as he did a loud crash was heard overhead.

He turned his head towards the direction and Reborn jumped off his shoulder.

There was a young boy with some kind of triangular blade looking thing covered in blue flames with a matching flame on his forehead. Looked kinda like Tsuna's orange flame--

"VOOOOOOOOIIIIII! DON'T THINK YOU COULD RUN AWAY! HAND THE BOX OVER!"

Gokudera was already at the scene facing off against the second stranger.

This one was definitely older than the blue-flamed boy. He had long hair and a sword attached to his left arm. He smiled menacingly. He was very loud.

To be short and to the point, he looked like a maniac.

He was very good though. As soon as Gokudera lit his dynamites and threw them at the long-haired swordsman, it was already too late. The dynamites were sliced in half and Gokudera was kicked to the side of a building.

Before he could make another strike to most likely end Gokudera's life, the first stranger stopped the attack with his own blade, grunting at the strength it took to just block.

Yamamoto looked around for a weapon or a stick or something to defend with-- Ah! His baseball bat! Swiping the bat from the ground, he swung it back and forth, changing it from the bat to a sword. He grinned.

"How lucky! Someone must have left it here."

Tsuna was near Gokudera to check if he was alright and the younger stranger threw a chair at his opponent, momentarily distracting him.

As he handed a box to Tsuna, the long-haired man moved in to attack.

Yamamoto ran forward to block the attack, but the swordsman wasn't surprised. He smirked and let out a stream of gunpowder.

Yamamoto's eyes widened and his form disappeared in smoke.

Tsuna called out for his name.

"VOOOOOOOOOOOIIII!" said the swordsman. "Is this all you fucking brats got? Just hand over the box and no one else will get hurt--"

The man noticed something. Tsuna turned to see what he was looking at but all he saw was a flash of blue ('Zero-_san_?' thought Tsuna) and then nothing. Tsuna turned back to the man who was looking at the empty space with a scowl.

"Fucking brat... Always trying to piss me off. I SAW FUCKING EVERYTHING!"

Before Tsuna could process what the stranger said, Reborn came up from behind him.

"You should protect your family, No-good Tsuna."

The familiar feeling of being shot in the forehead went through Tsuna.

He couldn't do much.

The swordsman easily defeated Tsuna like the others and the flame dissipated from his head.

The swordsman picked up the box that Tsuna dropped in the midst of the 'battle' and narrowed his eyes at Tsuna. "...that flame," he mumbled. "And for that stupid brat to already be here..." A look of realization hit his face. "You're that fucking--!"

Before he could continue his train of thought, a whip came flying towards him. Flipping in the air to dodge it, the man turned to see who it was.

"Superbi Squalo. Been a long time, huh?"

The man--Squalo-- narrowed his eyes. "Bucking horse Dino... The fuck is he here for?" He turned to look around. He bit his lips. He shouldn't waste his time here with the nobodies. He had the box. It was time to go.

Squalo let out an amused grin.

"VOOOOOOOOOIII! Looks like I can't stay around but it doesn't matter! I win!" He lifted the box. "I have no more need to be here."

And the long-haired man jumped out of view.

Dino sighed and turned to Tsuna and the others, surveying the damage done.

"Romario, let's take them to the hospital."

* * *

"Squ."

"There you are. How the fuck did you get here before me?—What the hell are you wearing?"

"Left before. And it's pretty!"

To emphasize her point, Zero twirled a couple of times to show off.

"Where did you get it?"

"Stole it."

Squalo sighed. "...of course... You remember to take the price tag off this time?"

Zero nodded.

Now normally, Varia members look down on stealing, mostly because it's a low form of crime but they admit there are times when they do commit themselves (for food, disguises, running low on cash, have no current country's currency, etc).

Zero stared at the box in Squalo's hands intently. She took out her own ring from her pocket. She held out her other hand towards Squalo.

"Me see!"

Squalo twitched, remembering what he saw just before she disappeared when he grabbed the ring box.

"Don't think I didn't notice you when I was coming down the building; you _kissed_ one of those brats, didn't you? How many did you infect already? No...What if **you** were infected?"

Zero's lips turned into a straight line.

"But not happen!"

"Doesn't matter, brat! You seriously have to stop that habit, damn it!" Squalo scratched his head and growled. "Never mind that for now. Let's go back to Italy."

"No."

Squalo did a double take. "What?"

"Want to explore more! Eat more! Play more!"

"...you wanna **die** more?"

"Still have to kiss at least five more people..."

"What was that? Answer my previous question! How many did you already infect?"

Zero had to think about that, which pissed off Squalo because if she had to think about that, there was definitely more than just one person she kissed.

"...seventeen?"

"IT'S ONLY A BEEN WEEK!"

"Ice cream man, convenience store girl, café man, waitress, manager, fast food—"

"You killed all of them?"

Zero blinked and looked at Squalo as if he was being ridiculous.

"Lulu said I should kiss people who I like but Prince said I have to kiss people I kill, so I'm doing both!"

"You're killing the people you like? –hey! What's with that look? It's almost as if you just thought of this now..."

"So...I should kill people I like? Makes more sense..."

"HOW DOES THAT MAKE ANY SENSE? Besides, doesn't that means you want to kill the Boss, too?"

Zero's eyes widened. That's right! She really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really reall really really really really likes Xanxus! That means...she has to kill—Zero collapsed under her own weight.

She couldn't even finish that thought. No! Refuse! Never! Rather rip off own limbs and eat internal organs!

She decided.

"...I'm should kiss people I like and kiss people I kill separately."

The look on Squalo's face was incredible. He gave up. At times like these, it was just best to give up and hope that Xanxus catches her in the act.

Squalo froze.

Wait a minute. Did Xanxus even **know **about this?

Squalo snapped his head back onto Zero, causing her to flinch out of surprise. Squalo felt his mouth stretch into a grin which, in Zero's eyes, looked terrifying enough for her to back away.

Before Squalo could grab for her, his cell started to ring.

"WHAT THE FUCK?" he yelled. Zero took this chance to escape, causing Squalo to swear out once more. He ran over to the side of the building, only to see Zero was already running down the streets.

The phone was still ringing. He snatched it from his pocket and flipping it open, he replied, "WHAT DO YOU—"

"_If you have the rings, get back here now."_

Click.

Squalo stared at the phone.

THAT'S IT?

MOTHERFUCKER! FINE! WHATEVER! THE BASTARD JUST LOST HIS CHANCE TO HAVE ZERO BACK AT HIS SIDE! SONUVABITCH!

He snapped his phone shut and shoved it into his pocket as he took out the ring box. His eye twitched and he was pissed off. Whatever! Too bad! Zero was going to either find her own way back or someone else was going to pick her up! If that stupid Boss thinks otherwise, that's too damn bad!

* * *

**TBC  
Next Chapter : Pre-Ring II**

* * *

A/N- WOO HOO! Done.

What else can I say?

...I haven't really checked it over so I probably made a lot of simple errors I could've fixed... I'll fix them when...I fix them...

I'm sick...and dying...and dying... I have never been sick so many times in a year (I'm talking about school year in Canada). Ugh...I think it's from staying up waaaaaaay too late... I can't help that...

Back on topic, the actual battles don't start until after a few chapters in... Hehehe... (don't hurt me!)

I'll probably update the next one soon too; seeing as I'm half way done. Ah...but I'm going to be busy so updates are going to happen randomly...

Thank you for the reviews!

Stay warm!


	15. PreRing II: Ready

A/N- Pop quiz! What does the word 'voi' actually mean? (Look at bottom A/N for answer!)

* * *

Disclaimer- I own Zero.

* * *

_"You; the one by the gateway. That type of clothing isn't allowed. What are you—"_

_He paused and looked at the smaller girl. There was a feeling in the pit of his stomach. The same feeling he usually had when faced with the baby- _

_Quickly, he lifted up his tonfa and struck the girl down._

_She didn't dodge or block it. In fact, she just took it and fell to the ground. _

_She wasn't moving. _

_He stayed for a few minutes to check if she was going to get up. _

_She didn't._

_His eyes narrowed slightly. Was he just imagining it?_

_As quickly as he struck her, he turned around and left._

_Once he was gone, the little girl wiggled her fingers. She placed her hands flat against the ground and pushed herself up—slowly and steadily. She looked towards the retreating back too far off to be recognized as a person though, through her eyes, she could see him just as well as if he was in front of her. _

_She spoke in a language different from the one the boy spoke. _

_"...strong."_

_She smiled and opened her eyes wide. She licked her lips. Hungry..._

_"How do you say it... Ittadakimasu?"_

* * *

**First Virtue - Chastity**

* * *

"VOOOOOOOOOOII! BOSS, I GOT THE HALF-VONGOLA RINGS! WITH THIS, YOU CAN-ARGH!"

The shattering of glass and sounds of beating came from the meeting grabbed Squalo's head and smashed it against the table.

Xanxus held up the ring matching the one he was wearing.

"Fakes," he said and crushed it between his fingers.

"Wha..." Squalo stumbled as he stood up from the ground with his hand over his face. He was trying to stop the bleeding. "No way..."

Xanxus narrowed his eyes. "Iemitsu..." He growled in annoyance. "We're going to Japan! Get ready," he said as he crushed the box that was carrying the lookalikes in his hand and walked out the door.

Once the door closed, the room was silent. The remaining five Varia members were left behind. Bel felt lazier than usual and plopped his head to his arms on the table.

"Maaah... We have to go Japan? It's all 'cause you messed up, Squalo. Ushishishi..."

Squalo growled. He had one hand over his nose to try to stop the bleeding. "Shut up, brat!" he said as best as he could. Blood dribbled over his hand. He looked around for a napkin, handkerchief, anything...

"Now, now! Nevermind that for now! You should be careful around the Boss for awhile, Squ. But it is a shame that the rings were fakes. Did you not notice? Maybe Zero would have been a better choice... Ah! Isn't she with you?"

"You shut up, too!" He finally found a napkin and he covered his nose with it, making his voice slightly inaudible. "Zero was there but if she wants to come back, she's coming back on her own! Should've known who the Vongola brat was when she was around him..." Squalo growled again. He should have been able to tell the damned rings were fakes... A part of his pride crumbled...

"Failure is not acceptable. Consider yourself lucky that the Boss didn't kill you. And as for Zero...does this mean you left her behind?"

"**Shut up**, Levi! You know absolutely nothing! Just fucking butt out!"

"You keep avoiding the questions about Zero..." said Mammon. "Did something happen?"

Squalo glared at the eyes staring at him. "She..." He bit his lips to stop himself. Fuck! Just thinking about it made him want to kill someone. "...I'm too fucking tired for this!" He stomped over to the door and exited the room.

The four pairs of eyes followed him out.

Levi spoke out next. "Does this mean she's here or not?"

"Obviously, she isn't here but something did happen," answered Mammon. "Squalo seemed pretty mad."

"Now let's think...when is Squalo never mad?" asked Lussuria.

"Shishishishi! That's rare to find nowadays. It was probably Zero that pissed him off again. Did she already get her half of the Cloud ring?" Bel asked, turning to Mammon.

"She was here on the day we all received them. ("Ah! That's right!" said Bel) She left for Japan soon after. Boss told her to gather information."

" Hmm...poor Zero. I hope she's eating properly."

"There's never a moment when she's not eating properly... But nevermind that, I still wanna know what happened. It's always something interesting. Levi! Go find Squalo and force him to tell us what happened!"

Levi glared at the blonde prince. "Why should I? Go for yourself!"

"I'm a prince. Princes don't do peasant work. Besides, I'm sure Squalo is with the Boss getting his punishment. Go help the Boss out."

Levi already left.

"...what a predictable oaf," said Bel. Mammon agreed. Bel continued on with the topic at hand. "So? Any theories?"

"Maybe Squalo got jealous?" pondered Lussuria.

"What would he be jealous about?"

"...lots of things."

"...like?"

"..."

Lussuria wondered if he should say what he was thinking of-

"Don't," interrupted Mammon. "No one needs to know about that. Ever."

Bel looked from Mammon to Lussuria. "What?" This happened quite frequently. Bel was usually peeved when he doesn't know something but if it was about Zero, it usually involved an awkward situation that everyone involved would never bring up again. He was curious. "What is it?"

"Is Zero still a kissing fiend?" asked Lussuria.

"...changing the subject?" asked Bel back. Bel didn't know this but Lussuria gave him a huge hint as to what the past incident was.

Lussuria continued. He had a point to this...

"...well, she's been a kissing fiend. Don't you think she stepped it up now? Do you think now she's a se-"

"Lussuria, I'm selling your magazines at the next garage sale. Yes, I know about them and people do pay money for them."

Even though the Varia never had a garage sale in their life, knowing Mammon, it was plausible-it was another way to get money after all.

The threat worked. Lussuria kept his mouth shut and excused himself out of the room.

And then there were two.

"...'se'? What is 'se?' What was he going to say?" asked Bel.

Mammon stared at Bel before saying, "...I'm leaving."

With that, Mammon left.

Left alone in the huge meeting room, Bel held his position for awhile longer. It was boring.

"...I'm outta here," he mumbled and followed suit with the others.

* * *

Zero held up her ring.

One of them has the other half... Wonder who?

She started to swing back and forth on the swings.

It was night but she wasn't tired. Her eyes were a dull red but disappeared when the street light filled the playground.

If Xanxus wanted them, then she would get them but Squalo already came and left. He saw her. Well, he saw her when she kissed the nice guy right after he disappeared from their view. He should've stayed; she could've gone with him to check to see the other halves of the Vongola rings. She received the message from Xanxus to stay in Japan because the rings Squalo retrieved were fakes.

She sighed. She had a feeling that Squalo was mad at her. She started developing a sensor for when people become angry at her...

_"Stubborn..." _she mumbled.

"Eh? Zero?"

Zero tilted her head back until she was practically falling off the swing. Gentle hands held her steady.

"Easy there..." murmured the stranger.

Zero blinked. Black hair, tall, smiley, and...ah...not a stranger. She recognized him.

"Shi."

'Shi' blinked, surprised at the name but the surprise melted into a smile.

"Is that my name now?" He laughed. "Well, I guess that's fine."

Zero blinked. Was that wrong?

"Shi..._chan_?"

He let out another laugh. "You can call me anything you want."

Zero nodded. Shi-chan it is.

Yamamoto kept his hands on her back as he moved to her side so that she didn't have to crane her neck.

"It's getting late. Shouldn't you be going home?"

Zero stared at him blankly then turned to look at her shoes.

"Shi-_chan_...is safe?"

Yamamoto blinked. Hmm? Safe? Safe from what? Zero poked his arm and he let out a small wince. Oh...that. The bruises he received from the long-haired fellow from before...

He let Zero take his arm and examine it. She gently skimmed across the coloured skin. She brought it up close to her face and placed his hand on her cheek. She continued to move it higher up to place the hand on top of her head. Just like Xanxus patted her head...

...she missed Xanxus.

She liked solo missions but she didn't like being away from Xanxus for a long time. Xanxus needed her, right? Hurry and come soon...

"Zero?"

Zero looked up to warm brown eyes. Yamamoto looked over, worried about her silence. She faked a smile to keep him distracted and noticed that his eyes narrowed slightly before it was replaced with a smile of his own.

Yamamoto mused as he stared at the little girl beside him.

She was smaller than him for sure and didn't exactly have features that were common with Asians. She had wide eyes and she always looked at you straight in the eye when she was talking to someone. Her eyes...wait...were they always red? Weren't they...some kind of grey colour? No, definitely grey now... Maybe he imagined it. She still had his hand on top of her head. She had black hair...some parts looked as if they were faded white. She looked like...well, she looked much younger than him but you can't always tell by appearance...

"Hey, Zero?" She looked up at him, listening. "How old are you?"

Zero blinked and took his hand off her head and placed it on her lap. She licked her lips before answering, "Twelve."

Yamamoto blinked.

Twelve? Wow...he was thinking younger and-twelve? She's only two years younger than him? She looked...much much much MUCH younger... He thought she would have been Futa's age at most...

He was curious.

"What school do you go to?"

"Don't go school."

"Eh? How come?"

"...umm...fired? From school?"

"Huh? Fired? ...kicked out from school?"

Zero nodded her head. "But it okay. Home-schooled."

"Ah... I see. Where's your family? Aren't they worried about you?"

"Mom and brother and brother and brother and brother and..." She paused. What was Xanxus in their family? ...the dad? She remembered talking with Lussuria about this but she couldn't remember the answer. "...and dad." She decided to make Xanxus the dad. ...it seemed odd to call him the dad...

"Wow... Four brothers? You the youngest?"

Zero nodded in response.

Yamamoto smiled.

"So? Aren't they worried about you?"

Zero stared at the ground and made circles in the sand with her foot.

"Family is...caring for me."

Yamamoto looked confused. He looked at her, expecting more but she stayed silent.

Not one to mope around, Yamamoto jumped off the swings and turned on his foot to face Zero.

"Want something to eat?"

* * *

Yamamoto had to laugh a little at Zero.

He was practically able to see her eyes sparkle in delight as she stared at the food.

"It's an _oden_ stand. You want some?"

The owner of the stand smiled at the two. He knew Yamamoto's father so he saw no harm in giving one or two freebies.

If Zero had a choice she would have swallowed the stand but she did learn manners (and that was another story altogether) and wiped her mouth with her long sleeves.

"_Ossan! _Two, please!"

Zero watched with wide eyes as the _Ossan_-man prepared the food. The smell wafted in and out as she inhaled.

Yamamoto held one out for the girl. "Here!"

Zero was thinking of inhaling it...but she thought that maybe he would think of her as werid...and suspicious. Someone being suspicious did not bold well for Zero; usually it ruined everything she had.

"Is it good?"

Zero nodded and gave him a big smile. He really was friendly.

Too bad he had to die.

She already knew about it. Since the rings that Squalo got were fake then, the real ones were going to be-if not already- handed over to the 'chosen' guardians. This one, she knew, was to be one of them. She had a good feeling.

She wondered which one he would be... He seemed pretty happy and sunny all the time...

Hmmm...Mammon told her the meaning behind the rings and Prince even repeated it to her... She forgot...

"It's actually pretty late now... I'll walk you home, Zero."

She blinked. Walk her home? Why? ...as far as she remembered, everything was by herself...

"Come on," he handed her over another _oden_ stick and offered her a hand to take. "Where do you live?"

Zero took the offering food, seeing as she already finished the first one, but only stared at his waiting hand. She looked up to his smiling face. He wasn't going to take his hand back anytime soon...

She placed her own hand on top of his.

Yamamoto smiled.

"Okay so, where's your house?"

* * *

...she knew she was forgetting something.

Gokudera was on his usual run to the convenience store, getting his usual snacks and food that a teen would want in general.

With a bag of junk in his hand, Gokudera was reading a small book on the supernatural until he came upon Yamamoto dragging along a small girl. Brows furrowed in confusion, Gokudera walked up to the two.

"Oi! What's a pair like you two doing out late?"

"Hmm? Ah! Gokudera! Nice timing! Midnight snacking?"

"Don't be stupid! And it's none of your business! Why did I even bother coming up to you..."

"What are you talking about Gokudera? We're friends!"

"I'm only here to protect the Tenth! No one else is needed!"

"_Maa, maa_! Tsuna wants everyone to get along, doesn't he?"

Zero was thinking that this was a good time to escape and she would've if it wasn't for the fact that Yamamoto, either realized or did it by accident, took hold of her arm.

Now normally, Zero hates being touched by people she doesn't know well but she already decided that she likes this guy. She already kissed him after all. He could be left off for now.

Gokudera, getting back on track to why he came up to the two in the first place, looked pointedly at Zero.

"And what's your story?"

Zero tilted her head in innocent confusion.

"Story?"

Zero stared at the ground.

Then, she stared at the sky.

She stared at her shoes.

And then, she stared at her hands.

She started to stare off into the distance.

And finally, went back to Gokudera.

She blinked at him.

...

...

...

...

"SAY SOMETHING, DAMN IT!"

"Hahaha! Calm down. She's probably processing what you just said. She can't understand Japanese that well."

"Hah? What the hell? Then, she's already a suspicious person! Who knows what her background is? What if she's an assassin from a rival family? And throughout the entire time she was with us, she was already scoping her targets? It's the Tenth, isn't it? Fess up!"

Zero started to feel dizzy.

"...oi, oi! Gokudera! I think she's getting _kanji_ poisoning. You should slow down or at least, use smaller words."

"How can the words I used be any smaller than they already are? And what the hell is _kanji_ poisoning? That only happens to you during literature class!"

"Ah, well, Tsuna admits that he gets it too. Hahaha!"

"The Tenth obviously has too much on his mind to concentrate on school work! That's the kind of guy he is!"

"Is that so? I guess Tsuna would have a lot on his plate... Hmm? Oh? The street lights are on already? It must be really late then... Zero, where did you say you lived again-?"

Yamamoto turned around to find her only to see that she was missing.

"Eh? Wasn't she just behind us?"

* * *

Zero ended up back in the hotel room where she stayed for a couple of days while she was in Japan. She wondered when she should go back. She wondered if she should start getting plane tickets. She wondered if Squalo was still mad. She wondered what Xanxus was doing.

...she wanted to see Xanxus.

Before she could order a plane ticket online (since she guessed that Squalo took the Varia's jet and wasn't going to come back for her anytime soon), her phone rang.

Yes. She had a phone. The Varia decided many things were necessary for her to have and a phone was one of them. She thought it was inconvenient. Why couldn't she just attach one to her head? Then, she wouldn't have to carry it around everywhere. Not that she did. She usually left her phone on the ground or somewhere random and Squalo always found it and gave her a beating her leaving it out in the open.

Luckily, Zero spotted the phone on the bed. She looked at it with a look of distaste. She really didn't like using it. It wasn't a slider, a flip phone, a rotating one or anything. It was exactly like one of the first mobile phones except it wasn't a brick; just a small version of the brick.

She held the small up to her ear.

"Mushi-mushi!"

As soon as she said that, she held the phone away from her ear as a booming voice echoed through the phone.

"_It's __**moshi-moshi**__, damn it! You told me you already learned Japanese!"_

Ah. It was Squalo.

Placing the phone back to her ear, she replied, "I lied!"

Some grumbling was heard on the other line.

Zero tilted her head.

"When are you coming?"

"_Right now. What have you been doing so far?"_

"Hmmm... I ate a lot! Very nice people here."

"_...I meant as SCOPING WHO THE OTHER GUARDIANS ARE!"_

"Ooooh. I don't know. I wanna talk to Xanxus!"

"_He's already on the jet! Why the hell else would I be calling?"_

"Hmmm... you sound funny."

"_...fucking...recovery."_

"Oooooh."

"_What? You understand from that?"_

"Xanxus beat you up!"

"_...little frigging... You're __**dead**__ once I get over there."_

"...Squalo,_ DAAAAISUKIIIIIIII_! Bye-bye!"

"_VOI! WAIT! I'M NOT DONE WITH—"_

Click!

"Hmmm... How do I turn this off?" wondered Zero as the phone started to ring again after she hung up on her superior. With a shrug of her shoulders, she flung the phone behind her, where it luckily hit the couch, and decided to sleep for the rest of the night.

* * *

"Fucking brat hung up on me..."

"Shishishi... Maybe you should install a phone in her head?"

"Hurry up you two! Or we're going to leave without you!~"

"Are all the Varia members needed for this? Aren't we facing off against brats?"

"Typical Levi..."

"What's the supposed to mean?"

"Where's Gola Mosca?"

"Ignoring me again?"

"With the Boss."

"Everything set?"

"Everything's ready."

"Alright. Let's go to Japan."

* * *

**TBC  
Next Chapter: Pre-ring III**

* * *

A/N- I have to stop saying I'm going to update soon... I had exams...now I'm done!

...this chapter was a lot shorter that the last one...

...sorry.

And I didn't really get to edit this chapter either...

...sorry.

Answer to the pop quiz:

It just means 'you.' Well, the Italian version of French's _vous_ ('you' plural form)

Whoever got that right will get... Nothing really. Hahahaha...actually, just request something and I'll do my best to answer it.

...probably going to lie about getting it right...

Definitions:

_moshi moshi_ – hello (when you speak on phone)  
_daisuki_ – I really like you; I love you

I think that's about it...

By the way, do people like the anime or manga version of Reborn? Or does it not matter?

Thank you for the reviews! I hope you liked it.

Stay cool!


	16. PreRing III: Begin

(Dis)claimer- I own Zero.

* * *

_When I was in that  
glass tube... I could see everything. _

_I could **feel** everything._

_The pins and pricking  
of needles, the knife that cut straight through my skin, their greedy hands with  
their white, white, white gloves scratching at my eyes..._

_You probably don't  
believe me._

_But it's all true._

_And in that tube...I  
cried. _

_I don't want to  
remember. _

_I'd rather stay  
ignorant and freeze in time._

_I'd rather stay  
exactly the same._

_Exactly the same as  
the moment I was born._

_I don't need a future._

_I don't need a past._

_I don't need the  
present._

_Staying exactly the  
same is fine for me._

_And then, you had to  
come and ruin it all._

_You with the red eyes,  
glaring hatefully at the world, looked at me. _

_You, the spoiled brat  
with everything at your hands, looked at me._

_And then, you left._

_And I wanted to know  
about you._

_I wanted to know  
everything about you._

_You came at random  
times and visited me._

_You were the only one  
that looked at me._

_You ruined me._

_I could feel myself  
changing. I couldn't remain the same anymore._

_The white, white,  
white coats noticed._

_You ruined me._

_And I grew strong  
enough to escape._

_The white coats  
escaped and there I was... Surrounded by blood and glass._

_Everything reverted  
back to the beginning. A new beginning. For me._

_Then, you appeared again..._

_And at that moment,  
all I wanted was to stay by your side..._

_You saved me..._

* * *

**Pre-ring III - Begin**

* * *

Tsuna stared at the group of strangers in front of him with his friends at his side. He felt sweat dripping down his face.

_HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?_

He's been saying that line in his head quite a few times over throughout the week.

It started out beautifully. It was a peaceful morning, full of birds chirping and the sun shining down warmly on all below it. The perfect,  
lazy Sunday morning with no school, no worries and no studying; it was **the** perfect day. Nothing could have possibly ruin it—

"HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?"

—until **the** **ring** appeared on his neck.

Needless to say, Tsuna ran and tumbled down the stairs to meet with his home tutor, hand clutching the chained ring around his neck, and had his shoes thrown at his face with a quick 'Hurry-up-we're-leaving' from said-home tutor.

Before he knew it, he was in the Namimori mountains, climbing cliffs beside waterfalls, falling, crying, and basically, killing himself while Reborn stood by above him 'overseeing his training.'

So far, he was only able to get that (a) the rings that long-haired guy got the other day was fake and all his friends now have a hold of half a ring, (b) there's some other successor who wants to kill him to be the Vongola boss with his own group of scary as hell assassins with their own half-rings and (c) he is now training to beat the-other-successor-who-wants-to-kill-him-to-be-the-Vongola-boss while he himself just wants out of the whole mess. Oh, and apparently, he only has about a week before the rings are found to be fake and the 'Varia' people come to kill them all.

_HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? _He cried as he missed the jutted rock and fell down to the water below him for the umpteenth time.

It's been quite awhile since then. Tsuna guessed it's been a couple of days or so. It was hard trying to count time without a watch.

...so then, why, he wondered, was he facing the 'best assassin group in Vongola?'

It hasn't even been a week! The last thing he did for his training was just barely getting over that cliff! Or...maybe it _has_ been a week and he sucked at counting more than he thought...

He felt himself shiver as an icy cold glare penetrated through him. The group itself looked pretty...unique. They all wore the same black uniform coats. They talked to each other casually about how they were going to go about with murdering every single one of them.

There was the loud, long-haired guy from last time. He was definitely glaring at them. Tsuna guessed he got in trouble for bringing in fakes. Some...robot looking thing at the back with an...infant (...it's an infant...thought Tsuna disbelievingly.) floating nearby it. A blonde boy, a tall, flamboyant looking...man (that's a man, right?) and one with spiky black hair who attacked Lambo...

And then, there was the one in the middle, the one who Tsuna guessed—no, he had a pretty good feeling that he was—the other successor.

Honestly, all Tsuna wanted to do was throw the damned ring at the older man and scream 'TAKE IT! TAKE IT AND STAY AWAY FROM ME!'

Thankfully, his father appeared to interrupt and tell the Varia that a match against each of the ring guardians will solve this. A couple of pink-haired ladies came from nowhere to say that they will be the referees for the Rings Scramble. Whoever wins the most matches will be the true successor.

Why did everything seem to fall right into place?

...wait a minute. Something was off here.

...why is his dad here? Why does **he **know about the mafia?

By the end of the day, Tsuna wondered how much was actually hidden from him. He wondered if he was going to die at the age of fourteen...

Then he wondered why he kept getting surprised. He should get used to this...

A kick was received to his side from Reborn, who told him to get up to train once more.

...can't he get a day's rest?

* * *

Squalo wondered if Zero had a 'Xanxus-sensor' implanted in her head, as said-girl zoomed by the rest of the Varia to clutch on to their boss' leg.

"We've only just come here too..." muttered Squalo. After meeting up with the brats, the Varia turned to the hotel that Zero was staying  
at. As soon as they walk in, past the front doors, a blur rushes by them to attach herself to Xanxus.

Squalo felt a twinge of annoyance creep through his body as the bane of his existence started to spew worshipping praises to her 'God.'

All 'God' did was walk over her to one of the single chairs and place his boot clad feet up on a table and demanded a drink. Zero ran off to get one and quickly came back, earning herself the honor of getting her already-messed up hair even more ruffled.

"...when is she going to get over this?" asked Bel as he too, looked on at the 'Xanxus worshipping by Zero.' "I really don't want her to become another Levi."

Speaking of Levi, he noticed that Zero was doing everything that Xanxus wanted and of course, he refused to be second best so he went to please the Boss too, glaring at Zero once in awhile.

Lussuria came in with a glass of wine. "Zero? Don't worry! This is just a phase. She'll get over it!"

"When?" asked Bel. In the background, Xanxus kicked Levi and left the room for his own.

Squalo took a seat on a couch and stretched out his neck, as he motioned for Zero to come over to him. Surprisingly, she complied and started on her way towards the swordsman  
but not before giving Xanxus a good-night hug, right after which he proceeded to go to his own room with Levi following.

"Probably eight years from now," answered Mammon as he floated on by, taking Zero's interest from Squalo to him. She bounded over to the floating illusionist and latched onto his feet.

"Guppya!" cried Mammon as he was pulled to the ground by the small girl.

Zero blinked as Mammon landed on her lap. She smiled widely and hugged him close.

"Mammon!" she said happily and rubbed her face against the back of his hood.

"W-why me..." he muttered as Zero's affection for him was squeezing the life out of his small body. Squalo felt his eye twitch as the girl forgot about him.

Feeling eyes on her, Zero looked up from Mammon to Squalo on the couch. She casually threw Mammon away ("Gu...guppya...") and ran over to Squalo.

Arms stretched out, she leaped at the taller man.

"Squuuu!"

Her arms clasped around his neck and hung there.

Just then, as he was tugging on her hair, Squalo remembered their last conversation and asked, "Where's your phone?" He thought about just implanting it into her head...

The reaction was immediate. The girl's eyes went wide and her face turned neutral while her mind went a thousand miles a minute, thinking of an excuse.

"...I have to go over there."

Before she could move, Squalo had a hand gripped onto her head, preventing her escape.

"Oh, really? Why is that? You don't want to be with me?" he said calmly.

Zero's mouth went in a line and she turned her head. She always had one trump card to escape. It usually worked about thirty percent of the time.

"XANXUS!"

Now normally that would have work if he was in the room.

As Squalo walked over to the balcony to drop her out unless she told him the truth, Bel turned his back to the two left over.

"Is Zero fighting as herself or as that thing?" Bel motioned towards the robot that was left in the corner.

Lussuria had already gone over to Squalo as Zero started crying out 'Lulu'.

"You're a genius, aren't you? What do you think?" replied Mammon.

Bel smiled. "So do we call _her_ Gola Mosca, now?"

"Gola Mosca? Me? OKAY!"

Startled, Bel turned his head to see Zero staring at him with her wide eyes. "Weren't you just...?" He turned back over to the balcony.

Zero ignored his question and hopped over to Mammon to cling on to him, in which he retaliated by crying out to stay away from him.

Zero started laughing as she chased after the mini assassin.

Bel swore he just saw the girl about to be thrown out and now he sees the upper half of Lussuria's body over the railing, trying to get their swordsman back on solid ground while said-swordsman was hanging off the edge.

"ZERO! YOU BRAT! I'LL FUCKING GUT YOU!"

"Squalo! Don't yell so loudly! It's harder to keep a grip on you!"

Bel stared, wondering how he ended up getting knocked off...

"Guppya!"

Zero once again caught Mammon and started to drag him off.

"Sleepy," she said and walked out of the room, Mammon in  
hand.

With a small evil thought and a grin, Bel took Zero's hand, just before she left. "I'll sleep with you."

Before he knew it, Squalo had his sword up against the blonde's neck.

"Voi...what's that supposed to mean?"

That was fast, thought the prince, but regardless of the theory of physics that were completely being ignored, Bel continued to be himself and smiled with teeth as he continued pressing the long-haired man's buttons.

"What? Didn't you sleep with her all the time?"

"You think I did that on purpose?" growled Squalo. "She's the one who kept sneaking into my bed in the morning!"

Mammon groaned. "Good grief..." he muttered and decided to go to his room until everything blows over. He tugged himself out of Zero's grip and quickly fled but not before saying, "Remember what we came here for in the first place."

Bel walked with him and shrugged his shoulders. "It's all fine! We're up against brats. What do we have to worry about?"

"You're a brat, too, you know..." muttered Squalo as he snatched Zero from Bel's grip and sat back down on the couch with Zero on his lap. Zero started pulling on Squalo's hair in which he fought back with pulling her cheek.

Lussuria sighed as he returned from the balcony and fixed himself as he said his own good night and to not stay up late.

Zero looked up at Squalo, she asked, "Killing who?"

It was taking less and less time for him to understand what she said. He groaned as he realized they were together for far too long. He ignored her questioning gaze and answered.

"Whoever matches with the ring you have."

"Ah... AH!"

Squalo blinked and was slightly startled from the change of volume.

"What?"

Zero smiled secretly. "Nothing!"

Squalo raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

Zero yawned.

"Sleepy," she muttered and jumped off Squalo's lap. Before leaving the room, she turned around to wave at Squalo.

"Night night."

He gave a small, half-assed wave in return but it still brought a smile to her face.

Once she left, Squalo leaned back against his seat and looked at up the ceiling.

"And it begins..."

* * *

_I want to be with you  
forever. _

_Can I?_

_For as long as  
possible._

_Everything— I'll give  
it to you._

_Whatever you say, I'll  
do it. _

_You gave me a reason  
for my existence._

_You acknowledged my  
existence._

_You're above everyone  
else. _

_Nothing is above you._

_I will forever be  
loyal to you and only you. _

_No one else matters. _

* * *

**TBC**

**Next chapter—First Ring: Sun**

* * *

A/N- Wow it's been awhile...and I give you...the shortest chapter ever for this fic.

Sorry but I was actually stuck... I mean I knew what I was doing just...wasn't sure how to put it down on paper...

I probably lost like more than half my readers...

For the ring arc...I'm going to be dancing around the actual plotline as well as make a few changes since I don't want it to be boring...and also, I really don't want to reread the entire Varia arc (...or do I? I probably will just for the heck of it...)

Thank you for the reviews!

Next chapter will definitely be longer! And...I'll also try to reply to everyone's reviews.

Stay cool!


End file.
